> Bounty Hunters
>  by Jasper77W
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Night Assault
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bounty Hunters
[Anniversary Update version]
A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic  fan-fiction.


The grey earth pony quickly paced the night streets of Manehatten, her coat flapping in the wind and rain behind her and her bright purple eyes concealed under a black gangster hat with a white belt around it. The rain poured down her dark mane, but that didn't matter. Any distractions and the target could escape.

From intel, Octavia was told that the meeting of the group would be just around the corner here. She swiftly turned into the alley way and continued walking. There was a small fire up ahead, burning brightly in the dark night. Everything Octavia wearing was made of black silk except for the belt around her hat. She could feel her pistol shoulder holster dig into her side, the heavy chunk of metal itself loaded and ready with a silencer attached.

She slowed down as she approached the end, the fire ahead sending shadows scattering about. There was a clearing up ahead, surrounded by tall brick buildings- perfect for a secret meeting. Now she could hear talking too. 

"We got all the ammunition ready." a deep male voice said in an accent Octavia couldn't quite place. "Just need to ship it out, then we get paid."

"Excellent." a different voice said.

Octavia's hoofsteps were soundless now, her hooves not even making the slightest clunk on the wet stone ground of the alley way. Still concealed, she silently drew her pistol. 

She had seen the picture of the pony she was supposed to eliminate, but right now taking out the boss alone would be impossible- she'll have to go for total annihilation. If she does kill the boss, the rest will just come after her and she'll have to kill them anyway. Right now she had the element of surprise.

She heard a rifle click behind her. Surprise scurried off into the dark immediately. 

"Damnit..." she muttered.

"Hehe. What do we have here? Hey boss! Look what I found." the barrel of the rifle prodded into her back. She dropped her pistol, letting it clatter on the ground, then started slowly walking forward.

Everything was silent except for the crackling flames, and she listened to the two pairs of hooves clunking on the ground.

A wide grin spread across the boss's ill shaven face. "Looks like the buckers really want us dead, eh?" he laughed. "Ya think I didn't prepare for that?" 

Windows around the entire area slid open, revealing previously concealed ponies with sniper rifles pointed straight at her. Ambush.

"Dispose of h- what is that sound?" the boss frowned at a screeching noise that was growing louder by the second.

Octavia didn't wait. While the ponies were distracted, she leaped up, spun around and grabbed the rifle out of the stallion’s hooves. She then put two bullets through his head. The gun shots seemed to wake the mesmerized ponies, and they immediately began taking aim. But the screeching earlier was so loud it made them disoriented- it didn't affect Octavia the slightest though. She had been through this many times already.

A light blue and black shape appeared from the skies and slammed down into the ground right in the center of all the ponies, exploding into a large rainbow-colored shockwave, sending the ponies closer to the center flying off their hooves, their rifles sailing away from them.

Octavia was behind a rusted car when that happened, and was unaffected. The blast wave sent chunks of muck flying off the surfaces of the buildings surrounding them, raining them with debris. Cracks had split in the walls, the brick shattered in parts. 

The boss briefly caught sight of a pony in the center of the mess with a light blue body and a rainbow colored mane that wore identical clothes to Octavia. His eyes widened as he realized there was more than just one pony going after him.

The pony's coat was still in the process of drifting down, her body already on the ground in a crouched position, a hoof in the earth with cracks spreading away from it. In her other hoof was a long cleaver, the blunt edge resting on her shoulder while the sharp edge caught the light of the moon. A red crystal glimmered on its hilt, shining with energy. The moment her coat touched the ground, she was gone again in a rainbow colored flash.

The boss panicked, quickly looking to his left. There she was again, ready to bring the cleaver down on one of his stallions who barely recovered from the shockwave. 
Lightning flashed and temporarily blinded the boss, and when his eyes adjusted again the stallion was lying in halves, rainwater failing to wash away the pool of blood.

Octavia had picked up another rifle, and both were ablaze. Her coat acted as a cape and trailed behind her. 

Bullets flew everywhere as ponies tried to return fire, but only let off useless blindly aimed shots. The walls were almost exploding with bullet holes. They were really more like small craters, since the armor piercing rounds simply took out whole chunks of soft brick from the walls. Glass shattered and rained down on the boss. He quickly drew his pistol, but in his panic to get it loaded dropped it into a puddle. He picked it up again, still loading it.

The pony with the rainbow-colored mane's cleaver was now drenched in crimson, but somehow the red crystal still shone through all the blood. There was blood everywhere, on the walls, and in puddles next to twisted things he'd rather forget about. He spotted Octavia and fired off a round. Just before the bullet could hit her, her left ear twitched, and she was well clear of its trajectory way before it could hit her. She pulled the trigger at the boss, but the clip was empty. She flung both rifles into the air, and caught them by the barrels. Swinging them as melee weapons, she charged at the boss.

He fired another round, and it lodged itself into the wooden shoulder stock of the rifle as Octavia brought it up to defend herself. The blast traveled down the length of the rifle and into her hoof. It was a shock, but not enough for her to drop it.

Now the boss was panicking, firing shots without even waiting to recover from the recoil. He could see Octavia getting closer and closer between each muzzle flash. After the gun fired one last time, he felt a sudden pain in his hoof as Octavia batted the pistol away. The next thing he knew, there was a rifle's butt against his chin, his hooves away from the ground. Traveling in an arch, he slammed back down into the ground again. 

He quickly rolled to his right as Ocatvia brought the rifle down, splintering the wooden stock as it cracked against the ground. He didn't want to think about what that would’ve done to his skull. 

He leapt up, a swung a hoof at Octavia's head. Octavia stepped aside, diverting the hoof, and before he knew it the side of the rifle was right up against his face. 

"Shame your first kiss got taken by a rifle." Octavia grinned as the boss hit the ground again. Determined to show this little pony some pain, the boss slowly got to his hooves again and charged at Octavia. 

He threw an identical punch, and as expected Octavia stepped to the side again. But instead of simply tripping over himself like last time because he missed his target, he spun with his other hoof ready to strike. Spinning around to face a surprised Octavia once again, the hit landed squarely into her side. She gasped, and tumbled across the floor, the rifles skidding away. Now the boss was wearing the grin. 

She quickly got to her hooves, ignoring her aching side and acting as if the punch didn't even happen. That wiped the smile off the boss's face.

Charging forth, he swung wildly at Octavia. She ducked under the swipe, and chopped at his side. He was much larger than she was, and in a way, that was a disadvantage.

Her tried to knee her in the stomach, but she leaped off his leg and landed a flying kick on his temple. He stumbled back, his ears ringing; his hooves splashing into a puddle as he tried to back away. 

Octavia was there again, swinging a hoof at him. He brought his elbow up for a successful block, but caught a hoof with his face as Octavia swung with her spare. 

He lashed out with a kick, but was too slow on the retreat after it hit nothing but rain. 
Octavia caught his ankle, and twisted, spinning him and thumping him against the ground, gravel digging into his face. Octavia had a surprising amount of strength for such a little pony. 

He kicked with his other leg, forcing Octavia to let go in order to dodge it. Pushing off the ground with his elbows, he stumbled back up into a standing position.

"Tough guy." Octavia cocked her head to one side, her expression unreadable. The boss swung at her, and she clamped his wrist under her right arm. She spun so her back faced him, and cracked her left elbow against his head again and again. He couldn't retreat as his wrist was still clamped under her arm. 

He still managed to think behind all the blows, and grabbed a hoofful of Octavia's coat, wrenching her away from him and throwing her into a wall.  

Before he could carry out another set of attacks, he noticed the silence evolving around them. All his hired mercs were dead. He saw a white flash out of the corner of his eye, and ducked just in time to avoid the heavy cleaver that whistled over his head. 

Recovering quickly, he lunged at the pony with the cleaver. But the cleaver she was carrying seemed a lot lighter in her hooves, and she had already recovered from the strike earlier. 

There was another flash as the broad blade caught a glint of moonlight, and the next thing he knew- the cleaver was buried hilt-deep in his chest. The pegasus with the rainbow-colored mane let got. He tried to move, but then noticed the ground was just out of reach of his hooves.

Rainbow Dash looked coldly at the pony she just impaled to the wall, light fading from his eyes. She grabbed the hilt again and wrenched the blade out, letting the rain clean the blood away. The body of the pony dropped into a puddle, and started forming its own in red. She decapitated the pony, and dumped the head in a black plastic bag that she slung over Octavia's shoulder.

"Time to collect." She said without emotion, and marched off down the alley way.

Octavia cast a cold look behind her at the massacre, then followed.

> Chapter 1: Warehouse Contract
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shining Armor thumped his head against the wooden desk, paperwork floating around him in the air.

"Problem with the coffee, sir?" his assistant asked.

"No. Just freakin tired of all this investigating. My brain hurts. Why do I have to track down these killers? I'm the captain of the royal guard by Celestia’s multicolored beard! Not some private investigator!" he thumped his head against the desk again, this time spilling some coffee from the white mug. His assistant quickly rushed over to clean it up.

"Royal duties. We don't have any private investigators... And in fact, we don't have any investigators at all. You're the closest thing to police." 

"Yeah, but ain't these ponies killing the bad guys? Why catch them if they're doing good?" 

"It is your royal duty to protect the ponies and residents of Equestria. As earlier investigations confirmed they are assassins, they could go after anyone."

Shining Armor scowled. A possibility, but one for some reason he finds highly unlikely at this current moment in time.  

"Sir? What do we do now?"

"What do you mean?" Shining Armor asked sleepily.

"We have a massacre on our hooves, with most of the bodies completely unidentifiable- and you're asking me what I mean? What do you think I mean?" 

Shining Armor scowled again. 

Screw you Celestia, he thought; sending me an 'assistant'.  

She was called an assistant, but really was here to keep an eye on him for the princess.

"We go to the freakin' crime scene." he said, secretly taking revenge. 

"You sure?" his assistant asked, raising an eyebrow and clearly afraid to see all the body parts and blood in real life.

"Don't be a filly." he said, pulling on a jacket because it was raining again and walked out the door.

*

"New client." Octavia said, her grey face tinted blue by the computer screen in front of her.

"Oh?" Rainbow said after a pop as she opened a can of coke. 

"Wants to meet us in central Manehatten. Got the contact details here, but no address. Whoever it is, they're keeping this quite the secret. Very possibly not police." Octavia said. Cause ‘police’ are stupid.

"Head over anyways." Rainbow poured half the can down her throat, wiped her mouth with an arm and continued: "See what they got."

"I know what they got." Octavia smiled.

"What?"

"Thirty thousand Equestrian credits. One target." Octavia was grinning now.

"Only one?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "They obviously want that pony dead real bad." 

"They don't want her dead... They want her tranquilized."

"Easy." 

Octavia nodded slowly.

"Let's go to central Manehatten first. Call these guys, then meet up. But just to be safe, you're staying in the car, just in case I need back up in there. You know, since we're dealing with ponies we don't even know. Might get us killed if I deny the contract, so this could be quite dangerous." 

Octavia considered that for a moment. "One question."

"Mmm-hmmm?" 

"Why do I always stay in the car?"

Rainbow sighed. "So I can get killed if things go wrong and you'll be fine." she said, then added in her mind: but mainly cause I get all the fun if all hell does break loose. 

"You're so nice." Octavia faked a sob and pretended to wipe a tear from her face.

"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow said, fetching her hat from the coffee table. They had bought a place here in Manehatten too, mainly because a lot of their contractors were here. Now that they think of it, they really are more hired assassins than bounty hunters... But the way Rainbow thinks of it, she just says to herself: we hunt for bounties- and that was usually the end of the story. They had worked with the royal guards in some occasions, but only when they needed the help. Usually they just accept any contract that involves eliminating a dangerous criminal, no matter who hires them. Could be a rival gang, but they really don't care. They had an excellent reputation in the underworld, getting the job done every single time- overdone on occasions like the last one. 

"I like my customers satisfied, not angry." Rainbow had said.

They were excellent assassins or bounty hunters, but house cleaning just wasn't their thing- even now they still couldn't figure out how they tore the cushions on the sofa. But it annoyed them, because the fluff inside would float everywhere if they don't sit down on it carefully. They bought another sofa, but within days it ended up just like the old one. From then on they decided, despite having a lot of money; to never bother buying new furniture, so now everything looked old, damp, and generally uncomfortable. They called it home though, and since there were no guests, it really didn't matter to them. They didn't stay here most of the time anyway- usually they'd be traveling all over Equestria and renting fancy hotel rooms should the local area have any. 

Rainbow crushed the coke can, her mind drifting somewhere else. she suddenly noticed she couldn't compress the can anymore, and looked down to find a comically small metal disk in her hooves. Casting it away and pulling on her coat, she opened the door, looking up at the sky.

That's what she hated about Manehatten. Seems to always rain.

*

The car ride was long, uneventful and completely unenjoyable. She would've flown faster, but there was nothing to gain by leaving Octavia behind, plus the rain would just slice through her if she went at sonic speed. It was five in the afternoon, and rush hour traffic was giving her headaches, even though she wasn't the one driving.

"We're late." she announced.

"We can't be late. They didn't give us a time." Octavia said.

"We're late." Rainbow repeated. "Because it's past the time I set for us to get there." 

Octavia scowled, wondering how she survived without one thought of suicide throughout the years with Rainbow Dash. Maybe them having to rely on each other in missions was the cause. Or maybe because she had other ponies to kill other than herself or Rainbow.

Finally, the cars ahead of them started inching forward. But almost seconds after they started moving, the red lights came back on and they stopped again.

Rainbow growled.

After thirty more minutes stuck in almost the same spot, they saw what blocked the road.

"Don't you just hate it when some idiot rams a truck into some random car and causes a giant traffic jam that gets us late?" Rainbow said angrily. 

"Mmm." Octavia didn't have much to say to that. Rainbow Dash had changed a lot from what she thought she knew about her. That is, before they went into this line of business. She seemed to be a happy, lazy pegasus that actually had a dream of joining the wonderbolts. But ever since an incident she never spoke of, she seemingly changed to a grim, angry, dreamless and frustrated pony. Sometimes Octavia feels guilty about not asking her anything, but she was certain she wouldn't want to find out what happened in this young pegasus's life enough to change its course. Although, she was still a show-off. And Octavia didn't think anything would ever change that.

"At least the rain stopped." she said.

"Yeah..." Rainbow said. "Good job, weather team. Just in time to clear the skies." 

They pulled up next to an empty street, having spotted a public telephone.

Rainbow Dash shrugged on her coat that she left to dry in the back seat, shuddering at the damp fabric. Keeping a hoof in her pocket and on the piece of paper with the number of their contractor, she approached the public phone which stood lonelily in the street, covered in moss.

There was a long beep after she had dialed in the number, but eventually someone picked up.

"I thought you'd be interested." an unusually deep voice said, clearly the doing of a voice synthesizer. 

"How do you know that I didn't get the wrong number?" but even as Rainbow asked this, she could feel the piercing eyes of a sniper staring into her back, probably with a rifle centered in on her heart.

"Security is key." the voice said. "So, you are interested in the job?"

"Yes. I'd like to find out what this is about- from what I saw in your message, you have some money that I don't need at all but desperately want."

"Yes. Indeed. I assume you have a pen and paper?" 

"Your assumption is correct." Rainbow said, pulling out an oddly thin pen from her inner-jacket pocket. She turned the piece of paper with the number on it over.

"504 Hollow Street. It's a warehouse. I'll be inside."

There was the noise of scribbling, then Rainbow tucked both pen and paper away. "You better not scam me." she said, and hung up. Still aware of the sniper somewhere in a building, she hopped into the black car, slamming the door shut.

"You got it?" Octavia asked.

"Yup." Rainbow said, taking out the piece of paper.

"504 Hollow Street..." Octavia muttered as she punched that into the GPS. "Not too far away. Just have to pass through the damn traffic again."

Rainbow groaned.

*

Shining Armor was quite pleased with himself when his assistant went to spew in the gardens after seeing the crime scene. Despite the fact that he didn't quite like the place either, it was his 'royal duty' to be here. 

"These cuts are pretty clean..." a doctor said. "Probably the doing of a large broad blade, since thinner ones would probably veer off course. A big blade will keep the cut straight- but still. The guy must've been practicing a lot. Doesn't seem like an amateur to me."

"Gun wounds too. Not expertly aimed, but again- we couldn't tell with all the bullet holes." Shining Armor looked around them, the brick walls seemingly able to collapse on them any moment now, with all the craters digging almost all the way through. 

A royal guard approached.

"Any evidence on the pistol we picked up yet?" Shining Armor asked as the guard came within ear shot.

"No, sir. The hoof prints were all incomplete, right now we only managed to narrow it down to... Er... A few hundred- almost a thousand- different ponies. Not enough evidence yet, but I would suggest it be those assassins again." 

Shining Armor sighed. He didn't know Octavia well, but she seemed like such a nice pony back then- she would always be at the Grand Galloping Gala, performing music on her cello. As for Rainbow Dash... It did break Twilight's heart to know her friend had turned into a killer, and it would seem that the beautiful old rainbow was nowhere to be found. 

He sighed again. That was probably why he took the investigation job in the first place- so he could bring the old Rainbow Dash back, and make his little sister happy.

"Thanks anyways." Shining Armor said. What dark times. He remembered being a foal, thinking the world was perfect and that nothing bad would ever happen. But as time passed, he started proving himself wrong. The only thing he still viewed as perfect was Cadence, but after taking on the investigation he saw her a lot less. Wondering if Equestria was like this the entire time, he walked down the alley way and out into the open streets.

*

Rainbow's right ear twitched. The tiny microphone and speaker in it felt uncomfortable, but was a requirement if she wanted Octavia right behind her when she needed her to be. She also had a tracking device installed in her wristwatch- she'll probably be body searched before she could get in, so when all hell does break loose Octavia can send her weapons to her within moment's notice. 

"Good luck." Octavia said as Rainbow stepped out of the car, the tall concrete walls surrounding the warehouse towering over her, dead spotlights lingering like ghosts on the roof of the warehouse. Everything about it was dark and abandoned- and Rainbow didn't like it one bit- especially the fact that she was unarmed. 

"You too. Have fun." Rainbow said, already striding towards the warehouse gates.

"Microphone- testing testing. Does it work?" Octavia's voice travelled through the tiny mic.

"Yes. Wait, you mean you didn't check it before I left?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow even if Octavia couldn't see it.

"Well..."

"What if it didn't work?" Rainbow said, barely moving her lips in case someone was watching her. "Was I supposed to stride back to the car? You have any idea how unprofessional that would look?" 

"No. Never tried it." 

"Get going. Don't go too far though." 

"I know, I know..." Octavia sounded impatient, and Rainbow heard the black car pull away and drive off behind her. Whoever hired her would probably have spotted her coming out of the car, and having it parked there with the driver would be suspicious.

A motor whined faintly, and the metal gates creaked open, dragged on its rusted rails. Darkness overcame Rainbow as she stepped in, the only source of light coming through holes of varying sizes torn in the corrugated iron roof. 

"Welcome to the warehouse, Miss Dash." the synthesized voice said. The pony was no-where to be found though, and the voice sounded like it was traveling through speakers. There was a table in the middle of the empty warehouse, white paper and pen catching leaking sun light- the contract.

Guards were stationed along the sides of the warehouse, rifles slung over their shoulders.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, Miss Dash. But I'm afraid we'll have to conduct a body search for weapons." 

Guards moved in, searching Rainbow's pockets. They retreated when they found nothing.

"Excellent. The details are on the parchment in front of you. Sign it, should you wish to accept. Feel free to ask questions, although I believe I have covered everything in the paperwork. And, out of curiosity; where is your partner?"

"I usually sign the contracts. She is my partner, so she doesn't need to do the paper work. She just helps me get the job done." Rainbow said simply. 

"Ah. I see." the voice said, as unreadable as ever.

Rainbow felt twenty pairs of eyes watching her as she trotted forward, towards the table not too far away, wondering how she would fend them off long enough for Octavia to get here. 

I wouldn't need to, she tried to sound happy in her mind. I'll accept the contract, get the job done, and collect the money. Nothing bad's gonna happen.

She walked up to the table, peering down at the piece of paper. It was awfully bright in the sunlight, but when her eyes adjusted and she read the first line, her mouth went dry.
She quickly looked down at the photo attached to the white piece of paper- and Twilight smiled peacefully back at her.

They wanted her to tranquilize Twilight Sparkle.

> Chapter 2: Extraction 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Get ready to send me my damn sword." Rainbow Dash whispered into her mic. This contract, no matter how much she'll be paid; simply cannot continue to exist. 

"I take it it ain't going well?" Octavia asked.

"No." Rainbow replied, the word a mere twitch on her lips. 

"Is there a problem, Miss Dash?" the deep voice asked.

"Yes, there is." Rainbow said. She noticed the faint clicks that swept over the guards- safety's off. "I'm afraid the target is... It's a long story. I cannot take care of this pony in particular." 

"Well then, I'm sorry to hear that. Take care of her." the voice said coldly.

"Now." she whispered.

The guards raised their rifles, but was stopped when they heard a cannon go off outside.

A small capsule punched through the thin iron wall of the warehouse, flying through the air and towards Rainbow Dash. Rainbow stepped to her right, and caught the capsule with her right hoof. The momentum carried her a bit, but she managed to apply a firm hold on it.

Pressing a button, the capsule unfolded into a hilt, and then through folding plates, mechanics and a bunch of other stuff, her cleaver was in her hands, the red crystal glowing with energy.

That made the guards more wary, but they fired anyway. Bullets swarmed at her from all sides, and she avoided them all by simply flying up to the ceiling. Now the guards were spraying bullets at her with their hooves jammed to their triggers, even if they didn't know where she was. The bullets easily punctured the weak roof, but none hit their target. 

Rainbow heard a loud drone in the distance behind her, which escalated into a constant thud-thud-thud, the sound pounding against her chest.

"Uh-oh. Octavia, pick me up somewhere else. We got ourselves a helo." Rainbow looked behind her at the heavily armed helicopter, buzzing its way towards her.

Rainbow stretched her wings and took off, away from the helicopter, hoping to outrun it. She could easily have done that, but there was too much of a risk of her getting shot while above all the buildings- her only option, to shake it off in the labyrinth of sky-rise buildings in Manehatten. She turned to the right and into a street, her wings beating as hard as they could against the air.

"Sorry, but I'll be a little harder to track right now... Any ideas as to how to get the damn thing off my tail?" Rainbow yelled into the mic as she turned another corner- but the helicopter was still close behind.

"Not at all." Octavia said.

"Thanks for making me feel better."

"You are very welcome." 

It was slightly harder to navigate while holding a huge sword, so she pressed the button again, turning it back into a capsule so she could pocket it. 

"Following tight." Octavia said, and Rainbow spotted the black car below, weaving through the traffic at a hundred and twenty miles an hour and following her. Exactly why Octavia always drives.

"Left turn." Rainbow said, flexing her wings, feeling the air pass over her feathers. 
Somehow her hat was still on- and she preferred it that way.

"Should I open fire?"

"Just don't crash while you do that." 

"Don't worry about me, I’ll be fine." 

"No, it’s just that the car is expensive. And I don't want to explain to the repair mare why I have a turret in the back of it."

"I hate you." Octavia opened the top hatch of the car, and an automatic turret emerged. 
They simply tuned that in because they can and because it looked cool, but they never thought about using it- despite buying almost two thousand rounds for it. "Heat seeking on." 

"Great- Wait, you have the right target locked on, don't you?" Rainbow swished round another corner.

"Don't worry- it's the helo." Octavia sighed, and flicked the fire button.

The turret started whirring, the gatling gun beginning to spin, all the while trained on the helicopter. 

A series of bullets fired off, and on its way to the helicopter hit a number of things- hanging advertisements, street lights, trees... Only a handful managed to actually hit the helicopter.

"These guys are CRAZY!" Rainbow yelled, tumble-turning to the right, allowing a missile to fly right past her and explode into a building. 

"You can't say much." Octavia said.

"Shut up." 

Now Rainbow had to make regular turns just to avoid getting hit. 

"No. Bucking. Way." she muttered as something buzzed into view in the intersection in front of her- another helicopter.

"What the buck? How much money do these guys have?" Octavia jerked the steering wheel, avoiding a head-on collision with a taxi.

"Right turn." Rainbow said, flying to the right. Now with two helicopters behind her, she really didn't know what to expect next. 

"Hey, Octavia?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna try something crazy-" 

"Not unexpected." 

"Turn off the turret." Rainbow ordered.

"WHAT!?" that was obviously unexpected. 

"Turn off the turret." Rainbow repeated calmly.

"You sure you shouldn't be in mental hospital right now? Like, right now-right now." 

"No." Rainbow shook her head to herself. "Not sure at all. Just turn the damn thing off."

"Ok." a click was heard through the mic. "Done." 

"And, don't in any way try to damage any of the helicopters."

"Is this some kind of betrayal I didn't quite catch up on?"

"No." Rainbow said, then leaned back, spreading her wings wide. They caught the wind,  and she could feel herself slow down significantly. The helicopter was right behind her now, inches away. She adjusted her wings, and fell back and past the helicopter. Air pressure changed as she flew right under the rotors of the first helicopter, her ears popping. She took out the capsule, activating the blade. 

The second helicopter was right in front of her now, the pilot with a surprised yet horrified expression on his face. 

Slamming the cleaver through the windshield, the tip going through the pilot; Rainbow Dash landed on the windshield. With a furious slash, she cut the windshield in half, tossing the body of the pilot out into the streets of Manehatten. She climbed in, slightly annoyed that the seat was soaked in blood and that she had no windshield. Not anypony else's fault- she was just annoyed.

"Now... How do I fly a helicopter?"

"Wow. Good job." Octavia remarked.

"Joystick, eh... Shouldn't be too hard. What's this button...?" Rainbow pressed the little orange button on the joystick, and missiles screamed out of their launchers, slamming into the helicopter in front of her.

"Good job." Octavia said again.

"That... Was planned." Rainbow said, yanking the joystick so the machine turned left.

"More targets... How many are there?" Octavia stared incredulously at the radar in the car. 

"Target practice." Rainbow said grimly, searching her own radar. "Found ya."

The first one emerged round the corner, but went spinning out of control as Rainbow put a missile in its tail.

The second was right behind her, firing practically everything. Rainbow flinched as she dodged another missile, silently apologizing to whichever pony that would get hit instead of her. 

She yanked the joystick, and the next thing anypony knew she was flying the helicopter backwards, raining the enemy with bullets. The other helicopter was almost ripped to shreds. Yanking the joystick again, she flew facing the correct direction. 

"Oops. Too close." she muttered as a few nearby windows shattered because of her flying so close. 

"I think we may have a jet fighter in the area..." Octavia said, not quite sure if her radar was performing correctly. 

"Yeah. Great. Just, great." Rainbow sighed- she could hear it screaming somewhere in the distance already.

It was up ahead, a sonic bubble blazing on its nose. Rainbow held down all the triggers she could find, the helicopter's guns and missile launchers ablaze and hissing. But before any of those could hit, the plane curved up and left a homing missile behind it.

"Shuck." Rainbow said, tucking the cleaver away and jumping out of the helicopter just before the missile hit. She heard the explosion rumble behind her, and felt the heat of it through her coat and on her back. She tried stretching her wings out and flying away, but after a brief tearing sensation her left wing went numb, and no more sensations came from it. Her mane whipped about her as she sailed through the air. Suddenly she was consumed by smoke and flames that erupted behind her, but then the ashes stopped and her momentum kept her going- she flew out of the cloud of flaming debris, tumbling through the air, the world being simple smudges of color around her.

She hit glass, pieces of the translucent solid flying all around her. Hitting carpeted floor and skidding across a long room, she rolled and got to her hooves. She still couldn't feel her wings, although there was the barest hint of sharp pain on her back. She galloped through the room.

Windows shattered as another helicopter flied alongside her outside- she was on the very side of a building, running parallel to a glass wall that was shattering around her as the copter sprayed her with bullets. There were startled ponies that dropped to the ground, covering their heads and not knowing what to do. 

A bullet struck a nearby desk, sending newspapers into the air. Rainbow plowed through them, batting floating pieces of shredded paper away with her hooves. There was another window up ahead- and she had no option but to jump. 

There was a table nearby. She grabbed its corner, ripped a leg off and used it to smash through the window. 

Taking off with a spin, she tossed the wooden leg at the helicopter's rotors. It shattered against the spinning blades, shards flying everywhere. The helicopter would've had time to recover, should it have enough space. Sadly, it didn't. 

Its tail swung around, the rotors on the back slicing through the building Rainbow just jumped out of. It snapped, and the rest of the copter went down, slammed into the streets and erupted into a fireball.

Rainbow was still in the air, falling.

There was a steady but slow cluckity-cluck down below, and sounded like something passing really fast. She couldn't make out what it was because she was still spinning with nothing to stop her.

Her shoulder cracked against something hard- it sounded hollow, so must be a thin roof.  It barely gave way, and she made a dent in it. Her shoulder felt odd, out of place, and her ears were ringing. She could feel blood trickling down her cheek.

Realizing she was still holding onto something, she looked down at her hat in her hooves. Glad that at least she had something, she put it on to conceal the wound on her forehead. She felt a metal canister dig into her side in her coat pocket- good to know she still had her weapon.

She placed a hoof on her disjointed shoulder, then shoved it in- letting out a cry of pain. It clicked back into place, and tears swarmed into her eyes. At least it felt normal again.

She stood up, but the world was still passing by her, and she fell back down again, this time landing on her left wing. Pain rippled down her body as she realized it had been shredded by debris from the explosion, and was now a bloody stump on her back. 

Swearing and cursing, she got to her hooves. Looking around, she realized she was on a train, but didn't quite hear all the sound since her ears rung as if someone set off a flash bang right next to her head. Swiping away the tears in her eyes with the back of her hoof, she ignored the pain all over her body and pulled out the cleaver. 

A faint roar was heard- the jet fighter was coming back.

"Come on... You son of a mule." She muttered, the cleaver unfolding in her hooves, crystal gleaming. 

There was a loud boom as the fighter entered sonic speed, heading straight for her with all guns blazing. Rainbow crouched down a bit, making herself a smaller target. She shuddered as she looked around her- bullets were landing everywhere, some even shredded her coat. They ripped through the roof of the carriage, and Rainbow could hear the passengers' screaming below.

The wind was refreshing- and was also drying up the blood on her wound. She liked that. 

Now flying over the train, Rainbow saw the plane load a missile into its launcher, the little grey warhead popping up in one of the sockets. Just waiting for it to get closer....

Smoke exploded out of the socket as the missile launched. Rainbow swung her blade in a wide arc- something she tested, but not in the field- until now. She swung it so fast that it temporarily entered sonic speed, and because of the movement of the arch and the wielder, a rainbow-colored sonic bubble blasted outwards like a shield of energy- it impacted the missile, setting it off meters away from the plane itself. It disappeared behind a wall of ash and flame, then what remained of the plane emerged, diving down into the carriages toward the back of the train. 

There was another fireball as it nose-dived into the train- should it still have a nose- and the entire bridge that the train ran on shook violently. Rainbow was taken off her hooves, and was tumbling down the length of the carriage. Managing to stab the cleaver into the roof didn't help much as the wind continued to drag her down. For this particular scenario she hated how she sharpened the blade so much- it sliced through the sheet of metal like air. Miraculously she still stopped right before falling off, dangling at the end of a flaming carriage. 

She hauled herself up onto the roof again, since being in the carriage would be awkward with all the normal ponies and especially because she would feel trapped.

"Rainbow! Reply if you're still alive." Octavia's voice came through the mic.

"Sorry to disappoint you." Rainbow replied grimly.

"Thought you'd be." Octavia said, completely ignoring what Rainbow said. "Still tracking you. Right under ya." 

"Great." Rainbow muttered, hearing the rotors of helicopters again.

"We got two helos from either side."  

"Yeah, no crap." Rainbow said, gripping the cleaver and getting up.

This time she didn't get to see any of the choppers- they must've been flying parallel to the train on the side streets- firing missiles at the bridge and train every time there was a gap between the buildings. Rainbow quickly got down, as all the explosions could knock her off any moment. Looking back, she realized they were trying to destroy the bridge- and the train.

"These buckers are crazy." she repeated- this time she meant it more than anything. 

Retracting the cleaver, she tucked it away and started galloping for the front of the train.

The sound of rubber tires grinding on concrete came through the mic.

"What the hay?" Octavia yelled, yanking the steering wheel left as another stray missile flipped a civilian car. The supports of the bridge weren't exactly wide, and missiles that missed were slamming into the cars underneath the bridge. A lot of them were pulling onto other streets now, the drivers all wearing horrified expressions.

A missile hit a support column, knocking it into pieces immediately. One of those pieces tumbled down and slammed into the front-right of the black car, sending it spinning out of control. 

Octavia had her hoof jammed on the accelerator, but now it was pressing firmly on the breaks. The car spun one more revolution, then Octavia shifted the gear to reverse.

Weaving her way through the abandoned cars backwards, she watched the collapsing point of the bridge follow her, slowly gaining. She couldn't see beyond that point, since there was just concrete and metal chunks falling all over the place. Something hit the back window, and Octavia swerved the car back around, facing forward. Now knowing there was a collapsing bridge right behind her, she was a lot more concentrated on surviving. She couldn't turn into side streets because of her speed- if she tried, she'll just end up with a black and silver metal pancake against a wall with her blood leaking out of it.

The bridge will be ending soon, joining up to a ramp leading down to the ground. The road below twisted to the right then back, continuing alongside the railway tracks. 

"Ready to catch me?" Rainbow asked.

"Yep." Octavia said, the red dot that is Rainbow Dash on her GPS just behind her current location. "I'll put the turret away."

"Crap. Gonna jump again." Rainbow sighed as the ramp approached.

She spotted the black car turn into the street to the right, speeding alongside the train.

"Come on Rainbow! You can do it!" Octavia waved a hoof, winding down the side window.

Rainbow took a deep breath, timed the jump, and leaped. 

Her legs stretched out and readied for impact. She cursed herself, since this jump would cost them a lot extra in car repairs. She felt the metal make contact with her hooves, and coiled her legs, countering her descent. It also dented the roof.

Relieved that she made the jump, she gave a knock on the roof. A moment later Octavia opened the top hatch, and pulled Rainbow Dash in before there was another second wasted- the helicopters were looking for them right now.

"Think we can blend into the traffic?" Rainbow asked.

Octavia looked at the roof, which was caved in; and then at the smashed and dented back window. "Not a chance." 

"That sucks."

Octavia looked in the rear view mirror. "Our flies are back." 

Rainbow grunted. "I'll take the damn turret, thank you very much." she climbed to the back, sat down on the turret(which could be manually operated if they wanted it to be) gunner seat, and swung it out into the open, the barrels already spinning again.

"Safety's off." Octavia flicked a switch, and Rainbow felt the trigger loosen from its tense safe state. 

Streams of light flew out of the rotating barrels with Rainbow holding down the trigger. The first few clipped one of the helicopters, ripping through its side. It wobbled but didn't go down. That's what Rainbow hated about gatling guns- they don't have sights to aim with.

Relying on instinct, she managed to shoot the helicopter's rotor blades. They broke away, spinning through the air. One piece was flung to the tail, and destroyed the back rotors. The remains of the helicopter tumbled down into the street behind them, still rolling; covered in fire. It hit an unlucky car, and bounced high up into the air, before falling back down and going up in a huge fireball.

"Are they crazy- or are we crazy?" Rainbow asked.

"Just you." 

"Thought so." she jammed down the trigger again. But before the bullets could hit the helicopter, missiles slammed into its side, and it vanished behind a thick wall of flame with chunks of everything flying out of it. Three jet fighters flew past, grey and easily distinguishable.  

Military aircraft.

> Chapter 3: SN!PER
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It'll be quite a long time before you can start flying again." the doctor said as he examined Rainbow's medical records. "A lot longer than last time, the time before that, the time before that, and... Basically all fifty-six times before."

Rainbow scowled. She was in the green hospital gown again, the stump on her back bandaged white. How she hated this place. Her black coat and hat hung on a stand nearby, along with Octavia's. 

Octavia sat by Rainbow's bed, casually reading a newspaper. Unsurprisingly, they were on the front page. 

They heard the creaking of the metal and glass door, and hooves trotting slowly towards them. Rainbow heard those hooves many times before, and didn't need to look up.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Shining Armor sighed frustratedly. "I really don't want to do this, but you both will have to be put on trial."

"What did we do?" Octavia asked innocently.

"You blew up half of Manehatten." Shining Armor said flatly.

"The guys chasing us blew up half of Manehatten. We were trying to survive." Rainbow replied, wincing at the pain in her side.

"Yeah yeah, you're still suspects for six assassinations and three massacres." Shining Armor said.

"That what you call us now? Assassins? We only go after the bad guys-" Octavia started. "Er... Rainbow? You alright?" 

Rainbow's eyes were just wide. Suddenly springing into motion and ignoring the pain in her side, she sprang up and started blubbering.  

"Say that again slowly..." Octavia said.

"Twilight! TWILIGHT! Shining Armor! Where is she?" Rainbow was like a crazy pony now.

"Ponyville, where she's supposed to be." Shining Armor said, then his expression changed into a smile. "But she's not. She came over to Manehatten to visit you."

Rainbow Dash went cold. She tried to avoid getting Twilight into trouble- but now, she just led her straight to Manehatten.

"Send her off immediately!" she screamed. "The contract! The bucking contract! They wanted me to tranquilize her!" 

"Wait, what?" Shining Armor seemed terrified. 

"Those buckers that sent the helicopters... The contract said they wanted me to take Twilight! Alive! I don't know what they want with her, but they were willing to pay thirty thousand for that!" 

Shining Armor's expression turned serious. "Sergeant. Check the location of Twilight Sparkle." 

"Still at the hotel, sir. At least her phone is." the guard said, looking down on a tablet.

"Ring it." 

There were a few taps as the guard put the line through. Then the beeping began, agonizing and almost torture to Rainbow and Shining Armor.

Then it stopped.

Shining Armor seemed a little shocked. He tried to think that his little sister simply didn't pick up the phone, not because she couldn't. "Ring it again." he tried to sound calm, but there was still the barest hint of trembling in his voice.

The beeping started again. Rainbow was grinding her teeth together. 

Then it stopped again, as abruptly as it started.

"Damnit!" Shining Armor yelled, losing his cool, rubbing his forehead and pacing around. Rainbow didn't know what to do. "Send in guards immediately! If they find her, tell her to keep the phone with her at all times! Have them guard her, you hear me!?" 

"Yes, sir." the sergeant was a little hesitant.

"Damn. I wanted to do this anyway, so... but you two can forget about trial now." Shining Armor cast a stern look at Rainbow Dash and Octavia. "What you were doing is wrong. We handle things like that. I really don't want to see my sister's friends as criminals, especially when one of them was one of the bridesmaids at my wedding. I'm giving you an offer... You work with us, and we clear your record with a five thousand credits fine. After that, I never want to see any of you involved in crime, ever again." 

Rainbow and Octavia glanced at each other, weighing the options. Neither were appealing, but the preferable one was of course-

"We'll take the job." Octavia nodded. Rainbow glared at her for a second or so, giving her the message: I was supposed to tell him that.

"Very well. We need all the information you have. And with your skills, I'm sure both of you will come in handy- that is, once you've recovered." Shining Armor said, preparing to leave. "Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone. I'll be keeping a close eye on the both of you." he said, and walked out the door, trailed by two royal guards.

"What have we gotten ourselves into this time?" Octavia sighed, folding the newspaper neatly and putting it away. 

"I don't know. But this is going to be one hay of a big storm." Rainbow stared at the monitor showing her heart beat, counting the beeps and watching the green line go up and down. If they wanted to protect Twilight, they'll either have to erase her existence and have her live somewhere secret, or the slightly more ridiculous but also more effective and appealing option-

"We're gonna have to eliminate the organization that tried to hire us, right?" Octavia sounded concerned- and she had reason to be. 

"As far as we know, we're trying to take down a whole freakin secret army." Rainbow looked up at the ceiling. Plain and boring, how she hated that too.

"What do you think they need Twilight for?" Octavia's question was followed by a long period of silence in which they only listened to the beeping of the heart rate monitor.

"I don't know. And I sure hope she only got lost." Rainbow said, her eyelids drooping. Too much exercise today- she never thought she'd ever have that particular thought.

"Rest." Octavia said. "Call me if you need me." she said, and left Rainbow all alone with her thoughts, guarded by royal guards.

*

Octavia was required to swallow a pill with a tracking device in it so she wouldn't just run off. It tasted bitter, especially when they didn't provide water. But still, the guards were friendly enough to somepony who just destroyed half a city.  

Walking out the door of the hospital, she was glad she had her coat on. Some reason, it was freezing. Some ponies saw her, screamed, then bolted off. She sighed, and walked up to the car, unlocking the door with a beep. The repair mares did a good job- made it look good as new. They didn't really ask what the turret was for, because they probably already knew. The only reason they actually carried out maintenance was because Shining Armor gave out the order to do so. Shining Armor seemed to trust them a lot more than he should, although betrayal or back-stabbing him was never a thought that ever occurred to Octavia. Every time it did however, she would discard it and cast it away- because Shining Armor did pretty much save their lives by taking out the last chopper. Also by paying Rainbow's hospital fees. 

She finally got home, and unlocked the door. It was on a pretty much deserted street, and the outside of the door was all rusted and looked abandoned. Exactly why they chose the place.

Creaking it open, she stepped inside and away from the cold night air. Warm air gushed at her, her body defrosting. Placing her coat on a hook on the door, she locked it shut. 
Sighing and trying to decide what to do, she sat down on the sofa, accidentally falling in and causing fluff to fly all around. In her desperation to bat the feathers down, she spotted an old wooden case gathering dust in a corner.

She stood up, ignoring the white fluff, and went to go fetch her cello. It had been such a long time since she picked it up, but she still knew how to use it- and very well at that. 

Playing her favorite piece, 'The Swan', her mind temporarily drifted off somewhere else. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to get lost in music- when she didn't need sheet music, she doesn't even need to concentrate- all she did was play whatever felt right, and it always turned out correct. She still loved playing music, but couldn't bring herself to continue the profession, not after what she saw before becoming a bounty hunter. She'd seen the under belly of Equestria, and now she's determined to remove that and keep it all away from the eyes of the young and the innocent. She suspected what Rainbow Dash saw was something similar, because what she saw was enough a reason for her to join the bounty hunting carrier. 

She heard hoof steps outside, gentle and too soft to be Rainbow's normal hoof steps- but then she remembered Rainbow was still in hospital. She looked to her right, where her pistol lay in its holster on a table.

The door knob twisted, but Octavia kept the music going so whoever was outside won't suspect she detected him. 

Suddenly the door swung open, and a pony with a pistol stormed in. Octavia dived for her gun, a bullet whizzing past her head. She grabbed the pistol, yanked the holster away and cast it towards the intruder, distracting the unicorn pony.

Before he could recover, Octavia had already sent a bullet through his head. His lifeless body crumbled to the floor, the gun skidding away and a big blood splatter was now on the wall behind him.

"Looks like calling a cleaner won't be an option." Octavia sighed to herself, taking a look at the dead unicorn.

He didn't have anything on him that would give a clue as to who he is- or was- except for the gun, which didn't give off much anyway. There wasn't much evidence of anything, so she just scraped some of his brains off the wall and into a small container, and twisted the lid shut. Pocketing the container, she went to the kitchen to fetch a dirty towel and a body bag, or something similar.

*

"Hey Rainbow." Octavia said, walking back into the hospital ward.  

"You're back." Rainbow said. "I'm glad for the first time. The royal guards don't talk about anything. It's boring." her mane looked like it had been in a tornado. "And they really need to paint patterns on this stupid ceiling."

"Yeah, yeah. Look what I found." Octavia held up the container, wobbling the liquid pony brain inside around.

"Um... I really can't tell what that is." Rainbow said after staring at it for two minutes.

"Didn't expect you to. Just some brains I shot out of somepony that tried to kill me at the apartment."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "Damnit! They even know where we live. That just sucks so bad." 

*

The door creaked open again, and Twilight saw a red stallion walk in, his face obscured in the darkness surrounding them. The small room had a spell on it, and now her horn wasn't working. She had cramps in her hooves as they were all tied up. The chair she was forced to sit on was uncomfortable and her body was aching because she was tied to it. She hadn't moved for the last few hours, thrown in almost complete darkness and left there with no one to save her.

The door closed, and the only sign of light disappeared. The red pony was still in the room though, and she could hear his hoof steps echoing on the concrete, slowly pacing around her.

She had her head lowered, watching nothing since she couldn't see anything. They had taken her at gun point from the hotel, covered her eyes and brought her to this creepy place. Her ears twitched- and she couldn't stop them from quivering. Her muscles had all been laced up for hours without release, and it was starting to show effects.

"Are you ready to give us what we want yet... Miss Sparkle?" a heavily synthesized voice said, its location following the hoof steps.

"No." Twilight said firmly, she would never give out that kind of secret. Not to somepony like this. She wasn't the element of loyalty, but even so, she would never betray Princess Celestia or Luna. Or anyone else. She wasn't known for keeping secrets, but she'll be doing everything she can to keep this one.

"We'll see to that." the voice said.

*

Shining Armor cursed when he opened the door to Twilight's hotel room. Inside there was no blood, which was good. But then there were bullet holes almost everywhere, ripped furniture, and burn marks on the walls. 

"Those mother buckers... Oh Twilight.... Damnit..." he rubbed a hoof in his tired eyes. "Get me back to the hospital- now. I need to deal with this crap- and I need those bounty hunters." he said, determination rooted in his heart- but his body was simply too tired to show it.

*

Rainbow and Octavia were both surprised to see Shining Armor walk through the door. Rainbow immediately snapped out of her bored stance.

"Did you find Twilight?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"No." Shining Armor said after taking in a deep breath.

"Oh." Rainbow's head drooped. "I see." 

Silence took over again, with Octavia sitting by Rainbow's side on the hospital bed, and Shining Armor standing in the door way, his coat drenched in rain.

"Rainbow Dash..." he said slowly. "You want to help Twilight too, right?" 

Rainbow nodded.

"You want her to be safe too, right?" Shining Armor continued. "I want that too. Please. You two are the only ones who can help me."

Octavia felt shocked- did she just hear a captain of the royal guard say please to two bounty hunters?

"Anything." Rainbow whispered, her voice hushed and her throat dry.

"You know where she's kept." 

"Pretty sure." Rainbow said. The warehouse was a high possibility- but on the negative side, it was also the only one they had.

"Then I need a team." Shining Armor said. "You'll all be paid."

"Wait- can't you use some of your royal guards?" Octavia asked.

Shining Armor shook his head. "No. They're not qualified enough. I need a new addition. A sniper. Do you know one?" 

Octavia and Rainbow Dash looked at each other.

"Well, there is one..." Octavia began.

"But..." Rainbow Dash sounded uncertain.

"She... Is kind of..."

"Yeah...." 

"I don't care what she is. I need a good sniper. And a spotter." Shining Armor said.

"A spotter too?" this time there was a grin on Rainbow's face. "I know somepony that can be both."

*

The light cerulean earth pony loaded the pistol, running a hoof through her dark blue mane to get it out of her face. She was blindfolded, her ears the only sense that can help her navigate. 

There was a faint buzzing noise to her right- a noise fainter than the buzzing wings of a mosquito. It was the sound of a lightbulb turning on, electricity running through the wires. 

Magnum's ears twitched, and she turned around, the pistol in her hooves; and pulled the trigger. There was the satisfying bang followed by shattering glass as the bullet struck the bulb. 

Still blindfolded with her ears pricked, she heard another bulb turn on- it was shattered by a bullet less than a second later. 

She was surrounded by a shelf of old bulbs, all rigged to turn on at any moment. She programmed them so they would be random, but the frequency of them turning on at the end would increase dramatically- at the end, there would be a bulb turning on every half a second. 

She had a full clip in her pistol, but not enough for a full shelf of bulbs- that's what the spare clips strapped to her legs were for. 

After running out, she quickly switched the clip in a flash, having a fully loaded pistol ready in less than a second. Sweeping across and firing at a bulb that just lit up, she sent a fresh bullet right through it.

The frequency was increasing. She was practically spinning around now, her hooves a blur of motion as she reloaded, fired, and reloaded again. 

The last bulb came on, except this time when she fired the bulb didn't shatter.

"Holy crap!" Shining Armor yelled as the bullet grazed his cheek and punched a hole into the wall behind him- and something told him it wasn't just an accident. 

"What do you want?" Magnum untied her blindfold and threw it on the ground, her gun still leveled and aimed at Shining Armor's head.

"He's here to give you a job offer." Rainbow said, walking into view. Magnum relaxed when she saw her. "And I told you not to just go inside like that." Rainbow added to Shining Armor.

"How was I supposed to know you knew a sniper that could shoot targets blindfolded?" he glared at her.

"What's the job offer?" Magnum quickly shot the last bulb and holstered the gun. The blast made all the ponies flinch as she didn't show any sign of taking aim before she fired.

"Well... Our captain-of-the-royal-guard's sister- and also my friend- got napped by some secret army, and we need a good sniper on our side for the rescue mission." Rainbow said simply. "Although right now 'good' sounds like an understatement."

"I do this crap everyday." Magnum said. "What's the pay?"

"Ten thousand for one mission with us. Thirty thousand if you work for us for as long as this situation lasts." Shining Armor said. They couldn't afford to keep paying her on each mission- after all, they are trying to eliminate a small army.

Magnum smiled as she heard the figures. "Thirty thousand..." she rubbed her chin, the smile growing into a joyous grin. "I'm in." 

> Chapter 4: Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow was given medicine and flash treatment, which would hold her wounds together and numb the pain however wouldn't do any real healing. She'll be a good girl and stay in bed after she kicks the arse of whoever did this to her in the first place. Right now she was driving, since it didn't involve many skills- just another traffic jam where all she had to do was steer and brake.

Octavia was in the back, putting some mods in place for the car. After the incident with the helicopters, they finally decided to mount some rockets. Magnum was with her, thinking about what she could do with thirty thousand credits.

Shining Armor was in the front passenger seat, tapping the window with a hoof, a worried expression on his face.

"We'll get Twilight out of there. Everything'll be fine." Rainbow said.

"That is one of my many concerns. But... I'm wondering what they want with Twilight. If my thoughts are correct, then we've got a big problem if she gives in. This won't just be simple annihilation anymore." Shining Armor said.

"But we can still handle it, right? We've handled other things that seemed kinda impossible." Rainbow said, thinking back to their battles against Nightmare Moon, Discord, and the changelings. 

"We can handle it alright." Shining Armor said. "But I don't think the clean up will be easy."

Rainbow was silent. Right now they had a really poorly thought out plan. They were just going to take whatever was thrown at them- this made her uncomfortable. Like they didn't even know where they were going- where this was going. 

"We just need to get one last pony- then we're ready." Shining Armor said.

"I know who you're thinking." Rainbow said.

"A good spell caster, taking his victims when they least expect it..." 

"...Iris." Rainbow finished for him.

They were finally able to break away from the traffic and turn into a side street, heading for the airport. 

"I gave out an emergency order. He should be there by now." Shining Armor sighed. "Damnit... Just hang in there Twilight."

*

Twilight's back ached. It felt numb, with all the wounds on it. She could feel dripping of blood from the grooves in her back that were all cut by a whip, lashed into her by a masked stallion. They asked the same question again and again, and no matter how many droplets of tears and blood fell she never gave the answer- although, she doesn't know how long she could hold on.

She was in total darkness again, being whipped just a few minutes ago. The surface wounds stung her, since her back was forced against the seat. 

Never give in. Right now, she is her biggest enemy. She must defeat herself, conquer herself and take control. Once she did, no one else will be able to get to her. No matter how they torture her... She'll decide what she does. 

Weak and powerless- true, but that didn't matter. Her heart was strong enough to hold against what is yet to come. Death won't defeat her. She'll defeat herself.

*

The airport was full of activity. The light-grey earth pony looked around, dragging his luggage behind him. It wasn't much, just a big near-empty bag. After all, the order he received was labeled 'emergency'. Didn't sound optional either.

Iris finally spotted the white unicorn.

"Shining Armor! What's this emergency? I had to rush over here all the way from Canterlot, you know..." he said, his luggage hitting a bump on the floor and making his voice uneven.

"We need a spell caster. Twilight's been kidnapped." Shining Armor said.

"Oh... That... You do know, what I use is mostly instinct, not magic?" Iris said.

"Yeah, we know. And that's why it works best." Rainbow said.

"So... You want me to kill some ponies?" Iris raised an eyebrow.

"If necessary." Shining Armor said, not wanting Iris to feel uncomfortable with the mission.

"Ah well. Since I'm already here." Iris sighed.

They had all the equipment loaded- time to head to the warehouse again. Getting Iris was important, since the team didn't have any specialized magic ponies in it. There might be a spell in the warehouse that could cause some trouble, and only an especially skilled unicorn or a mutated earth pony like Iris could defuse it.

"Buck." Shining Armor said as they neared a bridge. Crossing the bridge was required to get to the warehouse- and right now, it was crammed with traffic. 

"Welcome to Manehatten." Rainbow Dash said glumly. The suspension bridge hovered over a wide river that shimmered in the sunlight. There were gardens on either side, with hoofrails to prevent ponies from falling and drowning. 

"How the hay are we supposed to get there now? Damnit..." Shining Armor sighed. Hang in there, Twilight.

"I know a short cut." Rainbow said. She was driving, since Octavia was mounting some extra equipment at the back. She jammed down the accelerator, twisting the steering wheel at the same time. Iris hit his head on the seat in front of him as the car rode through the garden, flattening gorgeously planted and carefully fixed flowers and plants. Thank goodness Fluttershy and Rarity weren’t here.

The front end of the car hit the handrails, and crashed through.

Shining Armor was still trying to catch up to what just happened- Rainbow just drove them off the side of the gardens, and now they were falling for the water. 

Water splashed around the car as they landed into the river. Surprised and shocked screams of ponies in the distance echoed down the river.

"Buckle in everypony!" Rainbow said. Octavia, Iris and Magnum obediently followed. Only Shining Armor failed to comply.

"So we could drown with the car?" he asked incredulously.

"No. Just hurry up!" Rainbow looked out the window, judging the current.

"I can't believe you're playing these random pranks NOW!" Shining Armor yelled, angry.

"Oops. Too late." Rainbow said as she felt the first signs of water flooding into the bottom of the car. Flicking a switch on the side of the steering wheel, she took in a deep breath.

Water rippled away from the car as a deep rumbling filled the air around them. They all felt their hair lift, and the next thing Shining Armor knew the world outside the car was spinning to his left. He was thrown into a state of weightlessness and utter confusion.

He felt his flank leave the seat as the world flipped upside down, and his head cracked painfully against the ceiling. The temporary weightless sensation left, and he felt gravity tug at him from the roof. Before he could express himself by saying 'What the hay?', there was a crash and he was thrown completely onto the bottom of the roof.

"Told you." Rainbow said, her hair standing on end, her hat miraculously still on.

"What the hay?" Shining Armor finally got the chance to say that.

"Gravity inversion. Was experimental and untested, but looks like it worked pretty well." Octavia said from the back passenger seat, her seatbelt keeping her in her seat.

"Damnit Octavia! You're supposed to test everything before we have to use it!" Rainbow complained, thinking about what might have happened to them should the gravity inversion malfunctioned. Possibilities include being torn to shreds. "It's like that stupid microphone all over again!"

"Hey, you never flew a helicopter before and you coped fine the first time." came the reply.

Rainbow growled, not being able to think of anything that would win her the argument. She simply stomped on the accelerator, driving the car upside down underneath the bridge, bypassing all the traffic without anypony knowing it. Well, except for whoever saw the car crash into the water, then magically fly up to the bridge.

"I would appreciate a little help." Shining Armor said, his head uncomfortably squished against the ceiling. 

"Nothing I can do at this point." Rainbow said, and Iris sighed in relief. He was glad he trusted the blue pegasus, for the time being anyway.

"What's your plan for getting back on land?" Shining Armor pointed ahead- the bridge approached an end, and what awaits them ahead was a solid concrete wall. 

Rainbow was silent for a moment or two. "I... Uh, don't have one." 

"And yet you lecture me about not thinking ahead." Octavia sighed. 

"You said that you could change the direction of gravity on this car into any direction, right?" Rainbow asked, her hoof still jammed on the accelerator.

"Yeah. Just turn and adjust those two knobs there..." Octavia reached over and pointed at two knobs by the steering wheel, under the switch. "Just adjust them, flick the switch, and you're done. And right now I think I regret telling you that."

"Shining Armor... Might wanna try to get back in your seat and buckle in." Rainbow said, her eyes narrowing in concentration.

"Shuck." Octavia quickly leant back and pressed herself as far into her seat as possible. Iris didn't know what to do, so just grabbed hold of the door handle just in case it calls for a bail-out. Magnum was whooping like a crazy pony, waving her hooves in the air.

Rainbow turned the knobs, then flicked the switch.

"Here goes-" she called as they were thrown into that weightless state again. The car's wheels left the belly of the bridge, the entire car flipping through the air. It landed wheels down on the concrete wall that was in their way earlier with a crash.

"Excellent job on the suspension." Rainbow complemented Octavia.

"Thanks." she replied.

Rainbow stomped on the accelerator again, adjusting the knobs. They were speeding straight for the sky.

"Oh buck." Iris was about to simply leap out.

The wheels ground over the hoofrails, knocking them down in the normal gravitational direction. Ponies screamed and jumped out of the way as Rainbow flicked the switch again, landing the car in a bush- back to normal gravity. 

"Oi!" an angry police officer yelled at them from a nearby street. Shining Armor simply waved him off.

"An emergency, officer." Shining Armor said dismissively. He then turned to Rainbow Dash. "Drive?"

Rainbow nodded, recovering from what she just managed to pull off. 

"You'll need a new paint job." Iris poked his head out the window and looked down at the outside of the door. Branches and leaves had scratched the hay out of the paint.

"Naaaah, really?" Rainbow asked sarcastically, eyeing the GPS.

"Uh... What's the plan again?" Magnum asked.

"First Shining Armor already rented an apartment block high up so you can snipe from there- it's near the warehouse and you'll be able to see everything. We can call you in if we need to and you'll be there in a moment's notice. The rest of us? Well... We'll just sneak our way through the damn thing with you taking out anyone that tries to escape through the other side." Octavia said.

"Huh. Not very complicated." Magnum said.

"No." Octavia admitted.

"We're at the apartment block. We'll all have to proceed on hoof from this point on- they probably know the black car by now." Rainbow said, getting out and slamming the door shut.

"Here's the key to the apartment and a mic. Don't ever turn it off." Shining Armor handed Magnum a small package while she got a suspiciously long bag out of the car.

"Yeah, yeah. Room 2706. Twenty-seventh floor. Got it." Magnum took the package and slung the bag across her shoulder, heading across the road for the apartment. 

Octavia opened a small box, inside was a paper plane with a motor and some other equipment mounted on it. 

"Magnum. Mic working?" Octavia asked.

"Yeah. All goods." came the reply.

"I'm sending the eye in the sky. Your equipment should be in the apartment already." Octavia said, setting up the paper plane.

"Found it." Magnum replied, followed by a soft click as she opened a metal case.

"Can ya see me?" Octavia pointed the plane's camera at herself.

"Yeah. Right up your nostrils." 

"Mmm." Octavia said, straightening the wings, then throwing it up into the air. "All yours." 

"In control." Magnum said, and the motors on the plane buzzed to life. It soared through the air, gaining height. Perfectly silent.

Octavia had her pistol under her coat, and Rainbow had her cleaver in compact form in her pocket. Iris rubbed his eyes, while Shining Armor prepared defensive spells.

"Can you see the purple unicorn yet?" Shining Armor asked.

"Not yet. The place is heavily guarded though, so I think we hit the jack pot." Magnum replied.

"Hmmm. This can't possibly be the only base of operations for them. But how come we didn't notice this place earlier?" Shining Armor asked himself.

"There are multiple ways to keep it silent. Murder is one of them." Magnum said, making the paper plane bank left. “Bolt-actions always speak louder than words.”

"Yeah, but surely our patrol helicopters would pick up a warehouse full of armed ponies?" 

"The barricades look recent. Think it's a new establishment- although I don't know how." Magnum said.

"Right. We're going for the gate. Keep your eyes on the guards and set the plane to patrol." Rainbow said, galloping down the street. They parked the car away from the main battle zone so it wouldn't get blown up when they need a ride. Or a few rockets.
After a quick walk through the streets, they got near the warehouse. Peering round the corner, the first thing Octavia noticed were the security cameras, unable to remain hidden from her trained eyes.

"They've got cameras hidden at the warehouse. Magnum- can you take them out?" Octavia said.

"Yep." Magnum said, followed by a series of clicks. "Cameras are off and... Looped. Done." Octavia could hear the grin in her voice. "They're using some really odd tech there. Never seen this before, but seen similar." over the years as a sniper Magnum had to deal with a variety of situations- and being good with guns doesn't mean she can't be good with other stuff too.

They were all on the same radio channel, a box in the car constantly changing the frequency so no one could tune in. They advanced, sticking to the wall surrounding the actual warehouse. The solid fences towered over them, barbed wire at the very top. The concrete walls hid everything going on inside- and the material seemed relatively fresh, compared to the warehouse itself. Rainbow peered around the corner, then retracted when she saw two guard stallions, rifles in hoof and hidden from view of pedestrians.

"Damnit. We'll have to take them out." Rainbow sighed. The guards were behind the concrete walls, and that means no-clear-shot for Magnum.

"Are the streets clear?" Magnum asked suddenly.

"Yeah. Shining Armor issued out a silent emergency evac order. Civilians should be out of the area. They're having casual police driving in the area in case they notice- Manehatten is often filled with ponies. So there'll still be a car or two on the streets, but they'll be ours." Rainbow said.

"Good." Magnum said, followed by two thuds of the silencer.

"Shuck! What are you doing? You'll blow our cover!" Rainbow hissed.

"Wait for it..." 

Suddenly two spots on the concrete wall shattered, showering the streets with small bits of rubble.

"Damnit Magnum!" Rainbow couldn't believe what she had done- but no alarm went off.

"Area clear." Magnum said.

Rainbow checked round the corner- the rounds had punctured the concrete wall and landed two head shots. She just gaped at it.

"You've got a patrol squad coming in. Better clean up the mess." Magnum said, switching her ammunition to normal rounds instead of armor piercing. The rounds breached the concrete wall, and were only enough to go into the guards' skulls, not through- thus leaving no blood to wipe up. Just two dead bodies and two holes in the walls.

"I have to learn to trust ponies." Rainbow said to herself, dragging a dead guard out of sight.

"Patrol incoming. Three tangos." Magnum reported, the paper plane still in the air.

"Shuck. They're around the corner." Octavia said, her back to the warehouse, the other ponies behind her, weapons ready.

"Get ready to catch them." Magnum said.

The guards came around the corner, their neutral faces turning into expressions of surprise as they spotted the blue pegasus with a disturbingly large blade. But before Rainbow could land a strike, all of them fell down with gun shot wounds in their heads- they went down so fast she couldn't even tell which one Magnum targeted first. She quickly tucked the cleaver away and caught the first guard, gently laying him down so there wouldn't be any noise. The other ponies moved in and did the same with the other guards. Not one drop of blood on the floor, as Magnum used weak rounds that wouldn't go through. 

Proceeding through the warehouse gates won't be possible, as they want to avoid detection for as long as they can.

"Uh... Any ideas as to how to get to the roof?" Rainbow looked up, remembering the hole-filled roof. 

Iris and Shining Armor shook their heads. 

"I can get up there- I'll notify you if I find anything." Octavia said. "Then you can bust in." 

"Right. But how are you going to get up there?" Iris looked up at the ten-meter high straight wall.

"Gimme a lift Rainbow?" Octavia asked.

"Yup." Rainbow said, dug her hooves under Octavia's arms and threw her up. Octavia landed with a gentle and silent thud on the roof.

"Keep in touch." She said, and moved out of sight.

"The next patrol squad isn't due till five minutes." Magnum's voice came through the mic. "You can go check around the back." 

"Right, got it-" Rainbow said, starting to move along the wall for the back of the warehouse.

"Wait, never mind. Found her. I found Twilight Sparkle." Magnum said.
> Chapter 5: Crumble
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"She's being led out the back- and... Holy crap. I don't know what it is, but it just appeared out of thin air. Some sort of advanced stealth helicopter. GET THERE- NOW! I'll take out the guards." Magnum said, already scoping in.

"Shuck!" Rainbow yelled, drawing her cleaver and running for the back of the warehouse. A patrol squad came round the corner, and Rainbow turned them into bloody ribbons before they could pull their triggers. 

"Damnit damnit DAMNIT!" Shining Armor galloped after her. If Twilight gets on that mysterious copter, they probably will never find her again.

"Hold them off for as long as you can!" a stallion yelled, shooting at Rainbow. Something grey dropped down on him from above, and Octavia twisted his neck so that he faced backwards.

"Get her! Now!" she yelled, going after other stallions while Rainbow dashed past them.

The guards assisting Twilight onto the helicopter had all been shot in the head, and Twilight herself was bleeding on the floor with wounds on her back. Rainbow could see her chest heaving- a good sign of life.

"Get the buck OUT OF MY WAY!" she said, bringing the cleaver across in a massive arch and turning five stallions trying to block her into fractions. 

"So much for stealth." Octavia pulled out her pistol, firing at the guards. 

"I'm going after that damn chopper!" Iris said, galloping for the helicopter while Magnum kept his path clear. The copter was already disappearing again, the front end slowly turning invisible and spreading to the back.

"No. You. Don't." Iris said, his right eye glowing. The air around the helicopter began to ripple, and everything about that area seemed to twist in and out of the dimension. There was an odd wave that spread through the copter, and then the copter disappeared. It reappeared again, but with all its parts in a different order- the pilot's compartment was flipped inside out, the rotors bent, the engines sparking, and the tail upside down. Whatever generator that made it go invisible was also screwed up, and was whining right now, slowly growing in pitch. Suddenly it all exploded outwards, flaming pieces flying everywhere. Iris closed his right eye, laying it to rest.

"Twilight!" Shining Armor knelt by his little sister's side, scanning her injuries. "Twilight..."

"Uh?" the purple unicorn's eyes twitched, and opened slightly. Her lips were awfully dry, and she was in a generally terrible condition.

"Damnit... What did those arseholes do to you?" Shining Armor hugged her closely, carefully avoiding the wounds on her back. "Oh Twilight... I'm so sorry we came so late..."

Twilight just closed her eyes, finally able to rest properly now she was in the arms of her big brother, who was always there for her. A smile crept its way onto her dry lips.

"Let's get you out of here, alright?" Shining Armor said gently. He was glad Twilight couldn't hear the blood and fighting outside of the small bubble he conjured up.

"Mmm." Twilight nodded slowly. Shining Armor just looked at her. He never knew his sister was so fragile- and yet, so strong. Judging by her injuries, she held up against horrible things that normal ponies would probably have given in to. 

"We'll be home soon..." he said, lightly moving some hair out of Twilight's face.

"I'm glad you're here." Twilight whispered, small drops of happy tears leaking out from between her closed eyes. 

"I'm glad you're safe." Shining Armor said, hugging her closer, his own tears of gratitude beginning to show.   

"Alright. Big bro and little sis are together. Package secured everypony! Now clean this crap up!" Magnum yelled through the mic. She signed up for the money, but seeing the two together warmed her often cold heart. Now the money seemed like the bonus.

"Don't need to tell me a second time. Show these bastards what they deserve and send 'em to hell!" Rainbow growled, kicking a stallion in the guts then decapitating him. 

"Is that a beeping I hear, Magnum?" Octavia frowned, listening to the mechanical beeps coming through the mic.

"Yeah. It's the monitor." Magnum replied.

"The monitor doesn't beep." Octavia replied flatly.

Magnum quickly looked behind the monitor, and found a small package jammed behind the sofa and stuck to the wall.

"Ah shucks." she said, eyeing the pack of C4 explosive and its continuously flashing LED light.

"What is it?" 

"Gift from Santa Colt. Been a bad girl recently." Magnum said, slinging her rifle across her shoulder. She grabbed her pistol and its holster from where she left it on the table, then ran for the window. 

She used her gun to smash the glass, and jumped out, catching the framing at the top and swinging up onto the next floor. She smashed through the window and rolled onto the floor. She could still hear the pack of explosives beeping away, the intervals speeding up and haunting her.

"Did you just smash a glass vase or something? We'll have to pay for that you do realize..." Octavia said.

"Uh-oh then. You'll probably be paying for more than just a vase when that pack of explosives go off." Magnum said, kicking down the door and running into a corridor.

"Wait- pack of what?" Octavia's voice broke on the last word.

"From what I hear now..." Magnum slowed, her ears pricked- she could hear much more now. "Seems like more than just one pack." 

"Shuck. You gotta get out of there!"

"No. Bucking. Crap." Magnum rammed her shoulder into a different door, and there was a stair case waiting. From what she could hear, all the bombs are down below at the support structures, so it'll be safe for now at the top. She couldn't risk the elevators, since they might get jammed after the explosion. She bolted up the stairs, the echoing beeps urging her on and following her up the empty stairwell. 

Kicking down a metal door, she slowed to a stop on the concrete roof top. The sun shone down on her, awfully bright as it reflected off the clean white concrete of the roof. Her own light blue body would’ve merged in with it all for it not her dark blue mane. 

She was thrown off balance as a series of explosions went off down bellow. They sounded uncomfortably close. There was a different noise too- rushing of air, roaring of flames...

Magnum quickly dived to the right, avoiding a fire ball that traveled all the way up the stairwell and erupted out the open door. The door was ripped from its hinges, and blasted out along with a number of other items, which miraculously included the apartment block's reception desk from ground level. 

She heard all the stuff clatter down around her, followed by silence- all but the crackle of burning flames. Then that silence was broken by a deep groaning that shook Magnum's very bones. She felt gravity begin to tip as the building's support structures gave way, the multi storied skyscraper slowly falling to one side.

"Holy crap." Octavia said, watching from the warehouse. The ground team had annihilated the local 'infestation', and Twilight was safe and waiting for medical ponies to arrive. "Santa Colt must hate you."

"Yeah. Real bad." Magnum muttered, looking around for a way out. The building was collapsing in the direction of a taller skyscraper, its glass sides reflecting every horrifying detail. They were about to collide soon.

"Leap of faith mate. Hope you make it." Octavia said, watching the gap between the two buildings grow smaller and smaller.

"Gotta love breakable stuff." Magnum said, sliding down the now-sloped roof and leaping just before she could fall off the edge. She curled into a ball when she was in the air, dearly hoping she wouldn't miss the window she jumped for. She covered her head with her arms, and waited.

Her elbows slammed through hard glass, her body following. The impact sent her off balance, and she skid sprawled on the carpeted floor of an office. She came to a halt, severe carpet burn eating at her skin. Looking up, she saw the other building was still falling down.

"Oh no." She mumbled, quickly getting up and sprinting in the opposite direction. She heard an absurd amount of shattering behind her as the two buildings made contact, but they didn't stop there- as expected. They kept compressing into each other, and behind Magnum was a storm of flying debris and other random crap that happens to be in the buildings as the first fell into the second. 

The death storm was catching up to her, since she wasn't in a corridor or anything and had to kick down a dozen doors to advance. Or she could try going through walls, but she never learned that trick. She never saw a pony do that anyway.

Finally she reached the other end of the building, but couldn't stop there.

The first building had cut into the side of the second, and the top of the second was now  falling over too. The bottom of the second was simply collapsing in on itself- and means certain death.

"I really don't have a choice." Magnum said to herself, took in a deep breath, then swung out and onto the upper half of the second building. 

She stayed there, holding onto a cabinet door frame to stabilize herself when the building tips. She watched her mane begin to change direction, originally pointing down towards the ground and slowly rising as the building started falling over. 

"Enough." She said to herself, launched a kick at the window behind her and leaped out. She was on the side of the building now, except she wasn't really falling since the building was at a relatively flat level- but it was still falling and turning into something like a downward ramp.

She laid down on her back, sliding down the building. She looked down at the glass underneath her, dearly hoping it wouldn't shatter- because if it did, there'd be close to nothing that could stop her from falling through the building and going out the other side.

She timed her jump, leaping up into the air just as the top of the second building fell down onto the first building with the loudest crash she'd ever heard.

To her horror, all the glass had shattered. She hit her hip on one of the metal frames, and tumbled down into the second building. Her hooves caught something, and she managed to suspend herself from falling all the way through by holding onto a concrete support column. The building was still going down, groaning and creaking and slowly sinking.

She shook off her confusion, then swung onto the concrete support column. She had to get back to the frames- they have a higher chance of staying intact when the rest collapses- especially when they're at the top, which means there won't be much pressure pressing on it. Using various items to guide her to the frame, she finally poked her head into clear space again.

She grabbed hold of the frame, and waited. She heard something snap loudly, and the buildings started falling in on each other again, turning into rubble as they met each other.

The floor swirled away from Magnum's hooves in a hurricane of rubble, collapsing and falling down. Magnum still held on to the frame, but even that was beginning to buckle now. She climbed up and over, since she might get squashed if she were on the inside. Everything was gone now, falling down in a deep rumble so loud it sounded silent. The frame still held, but was swinging down into a more vertical angle. She still held tight though.

The end of the frame clinked against the pile of rubble and debris on the floor. Magnum looked down, sighed, then began climbing down. The dust was beginning to settle, and all was quiet once again.

*

Rainbow fumed at the heart beat monitor. Twilight needed medical attention, and she was thrown in here with her because her wounds still needed healing. 

"I hate this place!" she growled. "But I end up here every. Bucking. Time." 

"It's actually quite nice. Appreciate the fact that you get a window and a nicely tinted curtain." Octavia said, reading more newspapers. Apparently the two buildings were a simple demolition project, and the local citizens were evacuated for that. It was a good lie, since no other buildings were damaged. Although the owners of the buildings and the staff that used to work there weren't so happy about it. 

"The curtains are stupid!" Rainbow said, punching the fabric hanging from the ceiling by her bed. "You can't remove them! I don't get much sunlight at all!" 

"Come on, Rainbow. Rest. We've got other patients here as well." Octavia said, nodding to Twilight, her chest heaving as she took in deep breaths. Shining Armor was by her side- Twilight hadn't woken up all night, but he stayed up through the entire twelve hours. Now he completely couldn't hold it together anymore- he was snoring by his little sister's side, his head rested gently on the bed. Octavia smiled at the pair- they were probably two of the most loving siblings she had come across. She was glad she was part of the operation that reunited them again.

Rainbow growled, but said no more and did no more. She laid back into the pillow, and her head almost sunk through it. "Where's Magnum? How come she doesn't get to stay in hospital with us?" 

"Because she didn't get hurt." Octavia said. Despite being in the 'demolition' of the two buildings, Magnum still survived with barely a scratch on her.

Rainbow growled.

"Come on... Shouldn't be that boring. Where are your books? Should I go get them for you?" Octavia asked. She wasn't often one for caring, not recently anyway. She may have been before, but now she couldn't remember what she was like back then. All she remembered was the dusty old case with the cello in it. Maybe right now was a sign of her old self, just maybe- feeling sorry for the somewhat miserable Rainbow Dash.

"No thanks... I finished them all." Rainbow said, her expression softening by the littlest. It had been such a long time since she really felt anything close to kindness- in the dark side of Equestria, something like that didn't even exist. 

"Right..." Octavia sighed, sitting back down.

"I hope Twilight wakes up soon." Rainbow said after a long period of silence. 

"Yeah..." Octavia admitted. She didn't know the unicorn well, but she'd seen her at the gala with the princess multiple times before. "Rainbow?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we're doing a good job?" Octavia asked.

Rainbow didn't reply for a moment. She knew what Octavia meant- they had gotten into the business to eliminate criminals, to keep the dark side away from innocent eyes on the lighter side. To keep the ponies they care about away from harm. But now it seems, they just made it worse. Twilight has been tortured, and now she's seen what they tried to stop her from seeing. Even worse, she's experienced it.

They turned when they heard the purple unicorn groan. 

Twilight yawned, but flinched when pain shot up her back. She felt cold all over, and was aching in practically every part of her body. She rubbed her eyes. There was sunlight coming through the window, tinted light blue by the curtains. She could hear her own heartbeat monitor and someone else's breathing. The sheets covering her were light and fluffy, just like in a hospital. Looking around, she realized it was a hospital. She remembered falling asleep in Shining Armor's arms, relieved that the pain and suffering was over. She heard a familiar moan, and looked down. 

Shining Armor had his head resting by her side, clearly asleep. She smiled gently, and closed her eyes. To her, there wouldn't be anything more comforting than that. 

Rainbow smiled too when she saw what happened. "I miss light Equestria." she said, closing her eyes.

Octavia sighed, and sat down. She fell asleep in the chair, remembering her past, and what led her to become what she was right now.

*

Many years ago, Canterlot, at the Grand Galloping Gala.


Octavia finished the last piece of music, sliding the bow smoothly to a stop. The sudden loss of music was filled in by silence, then replaced by applause. Octavia nodded, the tiniest of smiles on her face as the ponies in the dance galleria clapped for the band.

Vinyl Scratch winked, although Octavia couldn't see it through her purple shades. Despite Vinyl being a DJ, she joined Octavia in the classical music section with her equipment simulating classical instruments. At first the Canterlot crowd didn't quite enjoy the mix, but then they started to like it. Eventually they started to love it, too. 

Just then was the last piece for this year's gala, the band needed their own free time after all. Another rival band was stepping on stage while Octavia and Vinyl were still packing up, and when they crossed they all stared daringly into each other's eyes. The Gala was meant to be fun, but somehow year after year it failed that objective.

Placing her shiny and well polished cello case down in the storage room, Octavia followed Vinyl to the drinks stand.

Octavia often valued her own character. Acting graceful and as somepony who was proud of her own accomplishments. Always with a head raised high- but then it's always good to get out of character once in a while. 

The drinks stand really had its own hall, neon lights and lasers shining everywhere. This was where the ponies like Vinyl like to hang out- most of the other Canterlot ponies haven't even heard of this place, but Octavia was glad they didn't. 

Loud music blasted from comically large sized speakers, shaking the room with sound waves. Neon lights and lasers made the drinks look ghostly with colored glows, but none-the-less a lot more appealing. 

"We'll have the usual." Vinyl said, taking off her shaded glasses. They come here every year, so the bartender basically knew them.

"Sun Set Cider and Icy Blue I take it?" the bartender winked, putting down the glass cup he was cleaning. "Coming right up."

"This place is awesome!" Vinyl said, accepting her cup of light blue liquid.

"Mmm. I know." Octavia said, taking a sip from her orange and red colored drink. 

Vinyl often hung out with the DJs, but she laid that down during the galas. Octavia, while not much into rock music or dubstep, was still a close friend.

Their fun was abruptly ruined when a small and controlled but none-the-less loud explosion made its way over the music. A gun shot. 

The gunpony fired again, destroying the speakers. There were shouts and screams, and then more firing. Vinyl and Octavia were frozen in their seats, not knowing what to do. Guns seemed like myths to them, they've seen them in movies, television, on the Internet, and a lot of other places- but never real. It never occurred to them as real, it was always something in stories. Horrible, killing machines. 

Octavia looked to the exit, but didn't know whether that would be a good idea or not. Vinyl placed a hoof on her shoulder, telling her not to.

The gunpony was yelling something, firing shots into the air. A stallion tried to stand up to him, but ended up with a bullet in his head.

Octavia gasped. It just happened so fast- the stallion was already dead in a bright flash. Whimpering, she cowered under the bar table. Vinyl put an arm around her, and she did the same- just for the comfort, no matter how little it would be.

Then for a reason Octavia simply couldn’t understand, the pony with the gun began opening fire on everypony in the room. Octavia and Vinyl hugged each other even tighter, squeezing their eyes shut as ponies fell screaming and bullets ricocheted all around them. 

It was hell for the both of them, waiting it out. Waiting for the gun fire to stop. The gunpony reloaded, and began firing again. Alarms went off, but the gunfire didn't stop.

Octavia heard Vinyl scream, and basically squish her in her arms. Then she released her hold, and fell limp. Octavia opened her eyes, trying to make sure nothing happened.  

She cried out when she saw Vinyl bleeding on the floor. A bullet had ripped through her right shoulder, and there was blood almost everywhere. She wished she hadn't opened her eyes, because the floor was littered with dead ponies, and those that still lived were soaked in blood. At least the room was dark, and the neon lights revealed little of the entire scene- but with each muzzle flare, she could see more. There was just a sea of bodies, and blood. Crying, she buried her face in Vinyl's chest. Her heart was still beating, and she was glad. Vinyl's eyes opened up just the slightest, looking at Octavia for reassurance. There was none.

Now there were more gun shots, and then it all ceased. Silence. The royal guards were finally here. A squad of the white stallions poured into the room, searching the sea of bodies for survivors.

Octavia had tears pouring down her face when she stood up, waving frantically at the guards and calling for a medic. Vinyl was still bleeding, and her shoulder was even worse. There was flesh torn in half a dozen directions, and her skin was ripped. Shards of bone could be seen amongst the mess. Armor piercing rounds.

"Damnit... Vinyl..." Octavia sobbed. "Hang in there... Oh Celestia, why...." she cried, hugging Vinyl. 

*

Octavia was abruptly woken from her nightmare. She was back in the hospital, away from the past. 

Rainbow prodded her arm. "Are you alright? You seem... Pale." 

"Yeah, I'm fine." Octavia lied and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. "How are you?"

"Still bored. But Twilight and Shining Armor are awake." Rainbow pointed at the siblings.

"Morning, Octavia." Twilight forced a smile. Not because Octavia was unpleasant, but because the pain killers she ate weren't working as well as she would've hoped. 

"Morning, Twilight.... Wait, morning?" Octavia raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Think we all deserved a little rest." Twilight winked.

Octavia quickly looked down at her watch- so it was morning. She'd overslept, for whatever reason. She didn't feel tired, she just randomly fell asleep. 

"You have any idea how bored I was?" Rainbow asked glumly.

"Nope." 

"I had to listen to you mumble in your nightmare for a whole twelve hours without falling asleep."

"Er... Sorry?" Octavia wasn't sure how to respond.

"Terribly sorry, Twily." Shining Amor took in a deep breath, and continued: "But I have to ask you what they tried to get out of you."

Twilight looked down, remembering the painful memories. "They asked me where Princess Celestia would be on Friday. I think they want to assassinate her." 

> Chapter 6: City of the Pegasi
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everypony stared at Twilight in disbelief. 

"Is this a gang, or a freakin terrorist threat?" Octavia asked.

"I don't know. So far they seem to have everything." Rainbow said. "And that damn stealth copter. Think they have more than everything." 

"This all seems odd." Shining Armor frowned. "Somehow they knew what block we rented for the apartment, and they had adequate preparation. That was a lot of explosives. And then before that, they knew where you two lived, straight after I made contact with the two of you. They seem to have someone in the royal guards." 

"This just keeps getting better." Octavia rubbed her forehead. A traitor in the royal guards- this is gonna give her headaches trying to figure out who it might be, out of the entire army.

"Anyway, where is Celestia going to be this Friday?" Rainbow asked. "We need to triple the defenses."

"Probably won't be a good idea." Shining Armor said. "We might have a traitor in the royal guards, remember?" 

"So... We'll have to protect Celestia ourselves." Octavia said. The room went silent.

"Yes. And it isn't going to be easy." Twilight said. "The princesses, along with the wonderbolts, are going to visit a primary school in Cloudsdale."

"Shuck. What are we going to do now? We have to stop whoever is behind this before Friday! Damn... All those little fillies might get hurt or die if we make a wrong move! Friday... Today's Tuesday... Three days." Shining Armor exclaimed. There was nothing he could think of that would help the situation.

"First off, we need to inform the princess. Is the visit of any significant importance?" Octavia asked.

"No, not really. But if we want to protect her that way we'll have to keep her indoors forever. I don't think that'll end well with our traitor in the royal guards and all." Twilight said.

"Damn. But we need to notify her now." Octavia said.

"Well... There's no way to send a letter... Suppose we could meet up with her, but that'll lead the organization straight to her." Shining Armor said. As much as he wanted to return to Canterlot and be with Cadence again, it would probably be too dangerous. And even if he didn't the organization probably will find out through other means anyway, the best any pony could do was to delay, and delay. Wait a second...

"That's it! I could call Cadence, she should be able to tell Princess Celestia." Shining Armor said.

"Great, you do that. I'll call up Magnum and Iris." Octavia said, flicking out her phone in one smooth motion. 

"In the mean time..." Rainbow said, a serious yet annoyed expression on her face; "We remain bored and do nothing."

*

Rainbow's wing, with the (strong) assistance of magic, has healed just enough so that she could fly- with great pain, of course. It had been a whole day already, and they had two left to prepare.

"Ah! Mother bucker-" She yelled when she first thought it had completely healed.

"The pegasi in Cloudsdale should specialize in this type of treatment. You should probably head over there if you want a fast and full recovery." the doctor explained, handing Rainbow an injury and healing assessment. "Give this to them and they should know what to do with you."  

Rainbow sighed. "Thanks anyway." she walked out, followed by Octavia. Ah, sunshine. Thank goodness for no rain.

Twilight and Shining Armor had already left. Twilight seemed quite tense around Rainbow, and she noticed. Maybe being a killer now had something to do with it- and she dearly hoped what she was doing wouldn't cast the wrong image in Twilight's head. 

Magnum and Iris were supposed to meet up with them at Cloudsdale, where they'll all set up preparations for the princesses' arrival. Four high priority targets- Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Ally. This is going to be a nightmare- at least they could enjoy the sunshine right now. 

The black car gleamed in the sun, and Rainbow smiled at the sight. "Who polished it?" she asked happily, although she already knew Octavia did it while she was asleep. She looked back at Octavia, who had her hat lowered, concealing her eyes. 

"You alright? Is it the nightmare?" 

"Probably more than that. But something related to it." Octavia said.

Rainbow didn't ask any further, sensing from Octavia's tone that she doesn't want to talk about it. She probably knew why, anyway. Ordinary ponies don't just decide to become assassins over night, after all. Her included.

*

Cloudsdale was different from how Rainbow Dash remembered it when they arrived. She stretched her muscles, for they had been still throughout the airplane ride. Everything was made of clouds, the ground, the buildings, the streets- everything. Somepony had invented a spell that would allow clouds to become solid- so ordinary none-pegasi ponies could walk and stand on them. The entire city of Cloudsdale was enchanted with the spell- it was a smart move- more tourists means more money.

The clouds seemed to have been recently polished, which reminded Rainbow of the black car, and how they had to leave it behind. That kinda sucked. No rockets then.

A veil anchor was cast on the city to the ground, keeping it from moving with the wind. The anchor was in a different dimension, but the two hooks on either side were in the actual dimension, so the anchor still worked and saved space. It was one of the most dangerous builds ponies have ever undertaken- almost thirty percent of workers died during its construction. But now it was monumental, something to be remembered. Without it, Cloudsdale would be drifting away from Equestria and no pony would have the power to stop it.

Various spells and enchantments were applied to the buildings- instead of using lights, they had magic to compensate. Some households had lights, but many have turned to eco-friendly magical lights installed by unicorns after the solid clouds spell was applied to Cloudsdale. 

"Boy, I missed you soooo much~~~" Rainbow tackled the ground, snuggling up against the soft sun-baked cloud.

"Let's gooo..." Octavia pulled her away and started dragging her to the nearest hotel.

Before they could go in, Rainbow heard a familiar voice shout her name. 

"Rainbow! Rainbow Dash! Is that you? I can't believe you're back!" the purple maned pegasus waved, her excited orange body bouncing around.

"No. Way." Rainbow rubbed her eyes. No way that could be Scootaloo. Not only has she gotten her cutie mark, she also looked like some kind of world class athlete. The wings were powerful, fully feathered and looked ready to go. Rainbow could see muscles under the young skin. "Scoots?" 

"YES! It is you!" Scootaloo yelled excitedly, ignoring the other ponies casting her annoyed glances. 

"Wow. Been going to the gym or something?" Rainbow asked. Seeing Scootaloo was odd. But it felt so much like more home again. It felt warm, and dry. The exact opposite of Manehatten. She felt like crying, and also felt like a little kid in candy land. She held both of those feelings in, for the sake of character. To her, Cloudsdale will always be the most awesome place- ever.

"Nah. Just lots of practice." Scootaloo blushed. "Speaking of which- what happened to your wing?" 

"Oh, I got shot by a helicopter." Rainbow said casually and proudly.

"Damn... That must've hurt. So what do you do in Manehatten?" 

"Uh..." Rainbow rolled her eyes, searching for an answer. Good thing Scoots wasn't reading the newspapers. 

Octavia rung Rainbow's number, keeping her phone in her pocket.

Rainbow's phone buzzed, giving her a temporary chance to avoid the question. 

"Hello?" she said, not realizing it was Octavia. Octavia tapped her phone twice. Rainbow turned around, received the reassuring nod, then went on pretending: "Oh, yeah... I was about to... Now? Right, right... Ok... Bye." She said, then hung up.

Octavia sighed.

"Sorry Scoots, talk to you later. Got, ah, an emergency we need to attend to." Rainbow said. "Real nice meeting you here." she waved a goodbye, and quickly headed into the hotel with Octavia. 

"Who was that?" Octavia asked, fascinated. The pegasus seemed friendly enough.

"I... Have no idea how to explain it." Rainbow said, booking a room. 

"You mean like basically everything else?" Octavia asked as they entered the elevator.

"Uh, yeah. Basically." Rainbow replied, pressing the button for the twenty fifth floor. 

"Why do you always book the top floor?" Octavia asked.

"Don't you like the view?"

"Well, of course I do." Octavia said, followed by an acknowledging *ding* from the elevator. The doors slid open, and the pair entered a long carpeted hallway stretching across the building. Doors lined the walls, numbers clearly written in bronze.

"2507...." Rainbow looked around. "Here it is." she said, sliding a card into the door. An indicator light turned green and beeped, and the lock clicked. "I'm going outside for a drink. I really miss the old bar here." she dumped her luggage in the room. "Coming?"

"Nah. I'll stay inside and check for explosives." Octavia said, more sensibly placing her bags down.

"Oh. You do that then." Rainbow said, a little disappointed. Alone in a bar. This should be fun. She left, closing the door behind her. 

Octavia walked up to the window- it was a full length one, stretching along the room and reaching from the ground to the ceiling, treating Octavia to the full view of Cloudsdale. It was an impressive sight, bright sunlight reflecting off of the clouds. It hurt her eyes a little bit, also because there was so much detail. She could see basically everything from here.

First off, she started checking around the apartment. Thank Celestia for no explosives. She went to her bag, bringing out a tablet device. It had suction caps on its back, and Octavia attached it to the window. Everything on the tablet was custom made, prepared for the situation ahead. She pressed a button, and the screen turned on. A camera on the back of the tablet came to life, buzzing as it adjusted to the view outside. With a few taps on the screen, Octavia marked the locations of several main landmarks- the stadium, the primary school, and the path the royals will be going on through their tour. She plugged a charger into the tablet, and began making other preparations. She attached rappels to the window framing- they would need a quick way out if there was an emergency. Waiting for the elevator wasn't one of the preferable options. All they need to do is smash the window and the rope will start unwinding. The apartment will become the base of operations, and she had to make sure everything was accounted for and running smoothly.

*

Rainbow was ordering her drink when Scootaloo appeared again.

"Hello. Good to catch you again." Scootaloo said, taking the stool next to Rainbow by the bar table. 

"You have seriously grown." Rainbow eyed her up and down.

"Hehe, thanks." Scootaloo smiled. "You seem to be in bad shape though. Manehatten not that enjoyable?" 

"No." Rainbow admitted. "How's everything with you?" 

"Well, I'm fine. My cutie mark is fine." she grinned cheekily. "Ponyville is alright. Everyone misses you- you being gone, and all."

"Well, I miss them a mighty bunch too." Rainbow said. "You finally learned how to fly?"

Scootaloo nodded.

"Wing power?" Rainbow asked.

"Thirteen." Scootaloo said proudly.

"Hmmm. Not bad, not bad. Three point five below me. Well, last time I tested was years ago." Rainbow was impressed. "Thanks." she said to the bartender as he slid a green drink across the table. 

"We got a lot of new facilities in Cloudsdale since you left." Scootaloo said.

Rainbow eyed her drink, giving these 'new facilities' a thought. She picked up the glass and drained it in one gulp, ignoring the sudden drunkenness that started settling in. 

Slamming the glass down, she got up. 

"Show me." she said.

*

Octavia screwed the last bolt till it could go no further, and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. All set for the big event. 

The royals weren't due to arrive till tomorrow, so there'd be a whole day to kill. Probably survey the area, then. Buying the tickets to Cloudsdale took a while, but the royals have already been informed- the team arriving one day earlier or later didn't matter too much. Almost didn't matter at all- just as long as they were here before the royals arrive.

She left the apartment, triple checking that the door was locked behind her.

It was warm outside, but she kept her coat and hat on anyway. Walking through the streets of Cloudsdale again and again, she tried to remember the layout. If there were to be a chase, this would be useful. 

She stopped when she saw a familiar figure walking the streets with a small group of other ponies. Lyra Heartstrings was here in Cloudsdale too. Afraid she might recognize her, Octavia quickly took an alternate path. She let out a calm breath when Lyra went past without noticing her. She had cut almost all the ties to her past, and she wasn't sure why. Why couldn't she just keep her other friends and work against the dark side of Equestria at the same time? Maybe she didn't want her friends in the business, maybe she didn't want to see them bleed in her arms again, with her not being able to do anything about it. 

She tried thinking about something else. Why would the organization want royalty dead? The obvious reason would be domination. But without a powerful overlord like Celestia, how could they accomplish something like that? Celestia's visit here hasn't been announced yet, just so the fillies at the primary would be surprised to see the princess striding into class. Only Twilight knew, probably because the princess told her herself. Right now they probably found out anyway- so why Twilight? 

Octavia rubbed her head. Twilight was the element of magic in the six Elements of Harmony, one of the most powerful. Taking her down would mean the elements would be unable to function. But why would they want to prevent the elements from functioning? Obviously they would have something vulnerable to the elements... But what it might be was beyond Octavia. The elements were often used against powerful enemies like Nightmare Moon and Discord- so thinking along those lines, this could spell disaster. 

While thinking about all this, Octavia wondered why she didn't become a detective instead. 

Assassinating royalty would be like cutting the head off a creature- the rest won't have any commands and will become prone to panic, making Equestria an easy target for domination- or annihilation, but she couldn't figure out why they would do that. So she went for domination. From the supplies the organization had, they probably were a lot more than just a really really rich gang. Information seemed to come easy to them, and they had technology on a different level- hence the stealth copter. They probably were hiding a whole lot more. Whatever they were hiding however, Octavia reckoned it would all be revealed on Friday. 

She headed for the primary school. She'll probably want to set some stuff up there, since they'll have to evacuate everypony once they spot the assassin. It pained her that they were putting little fillies at risk, but as Twilight said, if they're going to protect Princess Celestia by keeping her in, then they probably won't get a chance to take down this dangerous organization. Plus eventually somepony will work their way through the royal defenses. 

On her way to the school, she could feel a pair of piercing eyes staring into her back. At first she thought she was just being paranoid, but just to make sure she turned into a quieter street. She could definitely hear the hoofsteps behind her- they sounded controlled, unnatural. Probably somepony following her. It occurred to her that the organization probably had spies spread out in Cloudsdale already, and she cursed herself for not being more careful. 

She increased her pace. The hoofsteps behind her matched her speed. She started jogging now, the white clouds of Cloudsdale soft under her hooves. The sun shone brightly from above, meaning the light could cover Octavia if she chooses to strike; acting as a constant flash-bang without the bang. But she couldn't risk getting more attention- there's one possible spy here, there might be others around as well. 

She started running, and she could hear the hoofsteps behind her follow. She remembered this street from when she was wandering around. The alleyway should be just around the corner...

She found it, a two-meter gap between two buildings, away from prying eyes. She'll take down whoever was following her there.

She made the corner, seeing a stallion reach behind his back and pull out a knife out of the corner of her eye. The alleyway was barricaded by a tall cloud wall- too tall to jump over. But that wasn't a mistake- Octavia purposely turned into this one. 

She ran towards the wall, the stallion behind her charging at full speed. Timing her steps, Octavia brought her right back hoof up and onto the cloud wall, pushing off and stretching her body out. 

Now that her body was parallel to the ground, she reached out and her front hooves caught the stallion's chin. Her momentum kept her going, and by kicking off the wall she flipped up into the air. Now upside down with her hooves still under the stallion's chin, she flipped over him and landed behind him. She brought her hooves down as she landed lightly on the ground, and slammed the back of the stallion's head in the clouds. Despite being soft, the clouds that made the roads and buildings had to be a lot harder to withstand extra force. That made the stallion's head crack loudly, and quite satisfyingly to Octavia. Taking the knife from his hoof and throwing his body over the wall, she casually walked back out onto the streets again.
> Chapter 7: Young Witnesses
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Returning to the bar, Rainbow yawned loudly. Scootaloo was close behind, her mouth dry from introducing Rainbow to all the new attractions in the city. They both took the same seats from earlier at the bar table, and ordered drinks.

"You really changed a lot." Scootaloo said, eyeing Rainbow carefully. She wasn't the same arrogant show-off pony she knew years ago. Something changed about her, and she felt it the moment Rainbow left Ponyville. 

"Maybe." Rainbow said, feeling a little tired- she wasn't sure why, but she felt a little sick too- mentally, not physically- although it was beginning to take its toll on her body.

"Come on, Rainbow. Surely you can tell me what's going on?" Scootaloo was genuinely concerned for Rainbow now.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I want to, I really do- but I can't." Rainbow said. She wasn't going to introduce Scootaloo to the dark Equestria unless absolutely necessary- ever. She really wanted to communicate her thoughts with somepony instead of just keeping them all to herself- it was driving her crazy. But if she did, she would fail herself because she was working to keep the dark Equestria away.

"Oh look who's back- Rainbow Crash!" the annoying voice of a stallion came from behind Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash froze. She knew who they were, and out of all the ponies she was expecting to see- she never thought she'd see THEM. Even though the bar would be a suiting place, she noted to herself. 

"What do you two want?" she asked, taking a gulp from her drink without moving her head. 

"What happened to Manehatten, Crash? Couldn't make a living there?" a different voice said, ignoring her question- although that did answer it by the littlest. 

"Oi! Stop calling her that!" Scootaloo turned around. By now everypony in the bar seemed to have noticed the argument going on. 

"Oh, chicken girl? What ya gonna do about it?" the voice taunted, and Rainbow could hear the smirk that came with it.

"Yeah, Crash here can't even stand up for herself. Need a little bodyguard with her eh?" 
Rainbow slowly stood up, her eyes hidden under her hat. The childhood bullies couldn't tell what she might do as she didn't turn around. Then it became clear as she asked: "Is that a challenge?" 

"Ooohh, Crash's got attitude! Gonna show us, huh?" one of the stallions laughed.

A grin spread across Rainbow's face, but she hid it when she slowly turned around. Her arms dangled by her side, relaxed. Her head was lowered slightly, hiding the excited glint in her eyes.

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow, then back at the bullies, then back again; as if one of them were crazy. Obviously it was Rainbow Dash.

"Oh yes... Me gonna show you good." Rainbow smirked, cracking her hooves loudly. There were some ponies cheering on the fight now, waving their hooves in the air. The bartender looked as if mesmerized by the situation. The two bullies seemed nervous- they couldn't back down now. But then they could get a chance to humiliate Rainbow even further, so they took the chance.

"So, you 'got other plans' again?" One of the stallions snarled, thinking of the last time the group saw her.

"Not this time." Rainbow smirked, and took a bow.

Charging at Rainbow, the first pegasus swung a poorly aimed punch at her face. She spun around, letting him past and slamming a hoof into his back, sending him sprawling onto the bar table and knocking over a dozen drinks.

"You owe me five credits." She stated, looking at her spilt beverage. 

The second seemed a lot more wary than the first, but had no choice as the entire bar was watching. He charged forth, swinging a much more well thrown punch. 

Still not good enough though. Rainbow blocked it with her arm and pushed, throwing him off-balance. He threw another punch with his other hoof out of desperation, in which Rainbow dodged with ease. He tripped over himself and fell onto the floor, humiliated by the laughter all the other ponies were issuing. 

Scootaloo gaped at Rainbow. "How... What?" 

"Oi! What's with all the ruckus?" a gang of three ponies entered the room, evidently friends of the bullies. They eyed the two defeated on the floor, and Rainbow standing tall and triumphant.

Rainbow winked, which set them off.

"Get her!" the head yelled, the two got off the floor, and the others ran at her.

Scootaloo gasped as a storm of punches were rained down on the blue pegasus, who managed to deflect them all. It looked really easy for her too.

Rainbow ducked down and dodged a blow, then leaped up just as it passed, grabbing the back of the stallion's hoof. She twisted, thumping him down onto the floor. The others also lashed out at her, and she dodged the blows without taking her hoof away from the stallion on the ground. 

She yanked the arm, bringing the stallion to his hooves. Twirling around, she used him as a shield to block a kick. The stallion looked exceptionally gutted when the hoof landed in his stomach. Rainbow threw him into another charging pegasus, knocking them both down. 

She picked up a nearby chair, and brought it up as defense. Problem is, it accidentally turned into offense when a charging stallion ran right into one of the legs, the expression of pain instantly taking over his face.

Idiots, Rainbow thought. "I didn't do that. You did." she said to the stallion, and the whole bar laughed.

A stallion grabbed the chair, and was starting to pull it away from Rainbow when he fell over as Rainbow simply let go and got a new one. He fumed, and threw the chair at her. It crashed into the chair she was holding, and got jammed into it. Now Rainbow was holding a mess of chair legs and seats. 

The two stallions she knocked down earlier were getting up, and she slammed the mess on them, knocking them back down and sending wooden splints clunking across the floor. 

A pegasus grabbed her around the shoulders from behind- another saw the opportunity and came forward, ready to slam a fist into her stomach. 

Rainbow kicked the charging stallion right between the legs, a priceless expression flashing across his face as he doubled over in pain. Rainbow kicked again, this time in his face, since he was doubled over and it was within easy reach. He fell backwards, dazed. 

The stallion holding her was going to slam forwards with her underneath, but lost his hold when he was falling through the air. Rainbow flipped out from under him, and thumped him on the back before he landed face-first onto the ground. Rainbow flinched at the hollow crack.

Another got off the floor, and lashed out a kick at her. She quickly spun out of the way, grabbing his ankle when the kick missed. Keeping hold of the leg, she used her own to swipe the stallion's remaining one out from underneath him, forcing him into an excruciating looking leg split. 

The two knocked down earlier regained their hooves, and picked up the mess of chairs. They threw it at her, but the plan back fired as it also broke their visual contact with Rainbow. 

She ducked under the mess of chairs, and swung a punch into the first stallion's chin before he realized Rainbow was even there. He flew back several meters and crashed into a table. The second took the chance and landed the first hit on Rainbow, which made her angry- angry enough to make her rain hell on him. She tripped him up, and her hooves made contact with his back fifty times before he hit the floor, the air knocked out and away from his lungs. A tiny bit of residue rainbow light remained in the air where she had hit him.

She expected another stallion to charge at her, but then she noticed them all groaning and whining at her hooves. 

"Don't ever let me see you lot again." Rainbow said, crouching down. "Get out." 

They quickly scrambled to their feet, and started running out. One of them was slower and got caught by Rainbow, and she held him nose to nose. It was the one that knocked over her drink- and she wasn't very pleased with that.

"You still owe me five credits." she snarled, staring right into his eyes. He whimpered, and quickly threw a couple of twenties at her face. She gave him a kiss on the forehead, and it achieved the desired effect- the stallion immediately ran off in horror after being released. It didn't really count as running- it was limping, scrambling, and escaping all at the same time. Rainbow let out a triumphant laugh.

"You changed." was all Scootaloo said when Rainbow returned to the bar, buying another drink with a twenty credit note. She kept the extra change. The bar had returned to the normal chatting mode now, oddly enough. Apparently nothing lasts.

"Manehatten is a tough place." Rainbow said simply, patting Scootaloo on the back. "Sorry about the mess." she said, tossing a few notes at the bartender. She didn't want to be banned from the bar, plus if spending a few notes meant the chance to beat up her childhood bullies in public, then it's money well spent.

"Hello." Octavia walked into the bar, taking a seat opposite Scootaloo and next to Rainbow Dash. "Found five quivering boys that kept yelling 'She's coming!' outside. Plus a spy in the area. What's up?" she said, ordering her drink.

"Not much." Rainbow lied, but the mess here spoke for itself. "Oh, Tavi- this is Scootaloo, Scoots, this is Octavia." 

The two hoof-shaked, smiling politely. 

"Octavia- weren't you in the orchestra at the Grand Galloping Gala? I wanted to hear you perform, but I heard you moved to Manehatten." Scootaloo said fondly.

"Yeah... Was getting a little tough over here." Octavia said, unaware she just contradicted Rainbow who said Manehatten was a harder place to live. "Anyway, we just came here for a little visit. Manehatten's getting boring." she continued.

"Anyway..." Rainbow looked at her watch. "It is getting pretty late."

"It's not even getting dark." Octavia said flatly, and both her and Scootaloo could tell Rainbow has had one too many drinks. 

*

Many years ago, Manehatten.


The light green filly with the blonde mane sat obediently at the table, her similarly-colored little sister smiling at her from a higher seat. The day had been going well, it hadn't rained. The two fillies were underage for school, so stayed home all the time with their mother, who was cooking in the kitchen. Their father sat at the table, just home from work, his white robe hanging on a stand near the door. They never really figured out who he worked for, but they knew he was some great scientist, that would make great contributions to the world. Recently they had seen him argue with mum, but they couldn't be sure why, as they didn't understand most of the words. Today he looked glum, generally down. But everytime he saw the siblings looking at him, he would shrug on a smile, which made everything feel better.

The older sister was named Melony, the younger Dainty. They looked almost identical, but for their hair. It was the only thing that set them apart, other than physical size of course. Right now they had their noses pointed excitedly in the air, as they could smell their favorite dish from the kitchen. Mum always made good food, but out of all that they still managed to pick a favorite.

Melony had already learnt to speak, and quite fluently too(all things considered). Dainty also knew how, but was a little less fluent. Mother found fun ways to teach them, and they were happy for that. 

There was a knock on the door, and father stood up to open it. The siblings watched their father grow hesitant when he saw the silhouette of the pony outside, then turn and walk towards them. He laid a gentle hoof on the both of them, a stern expression on his face.

"Melony, Dainty... Go upstairs, alright? Go upstairs and stay there. I'll call you when dinner is ready, OK?" he said, and they could hear the worry in his voice. "Don't come downstairs until I tell you to. Alright? Stay upstairs- Melony, look after Dainty, yes? Daddy might be gone for a while, and you have to look after Dainty for me, understood? Stay strong, good girls." 

Melony nodded, and Dainty hugged her close. The top of her head only reached her shoulder, and she could only hug Melony's waist. Melony nodded, but wasn't sure what to do after that promise.

"Ok. I love you both. Go upstairs. Actually, hide somewhere. I'll come up and find you~~" Father said, herding them up the stairs as there was another heavy knock on the door, impatient murmuring seeping through the gaps.

"Grace, get ready..." Father whispered to mother, then went to the door.

Melony grabbed Dainty's hoof and they went into their bedroom. They liked hide and seek, but this seemed oddly like something else, though they couldn't quite place a hoof on it. They opened the polished cabinet, and hid behind some clothes. Giggling quietly, they listened to any noise outside.

There was a conversation going on, and they could only make out some words.
"Just sign it, and you'll be fine. The faction is to be kept secret. See the deal? Fifty thousand credits." an unfamiliar voice said impatiently.

"What the science faction is doing is wrong." this was father. "Science is meant to help the ponies of Equestria, not used for what you plan."

"Then what is magic for? They refused us, Mr Austere. We are making the world a better place, our way." the voice said. "Mr Austere, this isn't an offer. We are willing to pay you for you to remain silent about the faction's secrets and leave quietly, or we could silence your voice anyway, nice and easy. But we want to be reasonable, and bargain."

"Bargain? Why do you make it sound like I have a choice? Like WE have a choice?" Father was yelling now.

"Are you going to sign it, or not?" the voice asked calmly, followed by a period of tension filled silence.

Melony hugged Dainty closer. She could feel her shaking, there was an argument going on downstairs- but they were told to stay here.

"No- I will not sign it." there was the loud squealing of wooden chairs sliding across the floor. "GRACE!" father yelled, and they heard a door swing open, hitting the wall with a smash. Only the kitchen door did that.

Then there was a mess of noises, clicking, loud bangs, horrible screams, and shouting. Eventually everything fell silent again.

Dainty let out a small squeal of terror. Melony was very scared too, but she had to make sure her little sister was comforted. It was warm in the cabinet, and the two were cuddled close together. Melony gently stroked Dainty's hair, slowly calming her down.

They waited there in the darkness, waiting for father to call them down to dinner, to their favorite dish. They waited and waited, but there was nothing. A different smell was coming to them now- it smelt horrible, rotten. 

The siblings could wait no longer, and they emerged from the cabinet. With a hoof on her little sister's shoulder, Melony walked down the stairs, however slowly and with the lingering fear that father might tell them off for coming down too early. They didn't know what to expect- a surprise, maybe. But little did they know father will never be able to tell them off again, no matter how much they would want him to.

Melony gasped and squeezed her eyes shut, hugging Dainty closer and shielding her from the scene. The smell however, she could've done nothing about.

Eventually she had to open her eyes again, and every bit of the horror seeped into her heart. There was red stuff, liquid and some slime, all over the floors and walls. There were holes in the walls, and mother and father lay in the mess. Father was lying face down, a red hole in his back. There was another pony nearby, his head missing. There were red hoof prints leading out the door, which swung ghostly in the wind, making creaking noises. The siblings recognized the red stuff as blood, and they only see it when they get hurt.

Mother was nearby, red stuff in her side, and more coming out. She lay on her back, unmoving. Her eyes were slightly ajar, wet and glazed with tears, a trickle of the red liquid dripping out of her lips and sliding down her face.

Dainty cried out, almost like a scream. Melony felt empty, not knowing what to do; although she could feel the hot tears streaming down her face. Dainty hugged her sister close, almost suffocating her, but she didn't resist. They heard of the word 'death' before, and was told it was a very bad thing by mother- and what made them cry, was that they could feel every bit of it lingering in this room. 

"Mom..." Dainty sobbed. "Dad... They-they're..." she didn't finish, bursting into tears again. 

But Melony could still see mother's chest heaving ever so slightly. 

She wondered if she was hallucinating, rubbed her eyes, and looked closer. 

Yes, mother was still alive.

She shook Dainty, and pointed at mother. For a moment their expressions brightened a bit, but they couldn't help but sob when they saw the amount of pain mother was in- the wound in her side looked really painful.

They quickly ran to her side, and hugged her around the neck, afraid they might touch her wound.

"Mom!" Melony sobbed. "Mom..."

"Melony.... Dainty..." mother whispered, her lips barely moving. "Run, run away... As far... Away... As you can..." her voice was growing weaker by the second.

"Mom!" Dainty screamed, looking at mother's face- but she was already fading. She had been alive for long enough. 

"Mom... Please... I said the magic word! Come on! Please, mom; please! Please please please!" Melony yelled.

"Run..." their mother whispered, and they barely detected the 'I love you both' that followed. And just like that, mother faded away right in their hooves, her chest heaving one last time; leaving them with an empty carcass. 

Remembering mother's words, Melony forced herself to look away. Run, run away. She grabbed Dainty's arm, and despite her protests; dragged her away from mother. Dainty was screaming and struggling, reaching out for mother's dead body. But Melony was stronger, and by the time they were on the stairs Dainty had given up. She had resorted to hugging Melony, pouring tears onto her back as they slowly walked up the stairs, their hoofsteps heavy.

"Pack your things." Melony said, her voice uneven. She didn't bother wiping her tears away. She'd promised father she'd stay strong and look after Dainty. Now wasn't the time to cry.

Dainty grabbed Mr. Rabbit from her toys' chest, and took nothing more.

Melony looked around, and found her small shoulder bag. It was only a little larger than the average pocket, but she had it since she was three. She packed in it a family photo she found, her heart aching and throbbing as she slid it into her bag. She brought some other stuff too, including a mini teddy soft toy she had years ago. She remembered receiving it from mommy, for her fifth birthday, three years ago. She remembered opening the small box with glee, grinning at the toy and being completely overjoyed. She remembered being happy.

She couldn't, however; find any more traces of happiness in her heart when she slid that into her bag too. She packed a watch- it was out of battery, but daddy gave it to her one day when he came back to work. It reminded her of him more than anything else. Zipping the bag, she slung it over her shoulders. Looking around, she found Dainty had fallen asleep by the bed, cuddling with her favorite soft toy Mr Rabbit. There were still streaks of tears on her face, but she had fallen asleep from tiredness. There was much more to come, Melony knew- but the present already had enough in it to keep them occupied.

She gently scooped Dainty up, groaning with the effort; and carried her on her back. It was quite physically demanding, she admitted- but anything for her sister, and her only family now. 

Staggering out the door, trying not to look at the bodies on the floor; she walked out into the open. It was raining again, and there was lightning too. It scared her, made her terrified- but her sister's warm form on her back countered that and comforted her more than it usually would have. Walking away from the cottage, she took one last look back at it. It stood there by the desolate road, a silent witness to everything. 

The rain covering her tears, Melony turned away and walked on, mother's words echoing in her head, and Dainty still asleep on her back.

> Chapter 8: Neon Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was no place to go but to wonder the streets. Life now was to merely survive, and accept the odd kind coin a passer-by would toss. They had nothing to shield against the rain, but somehow Dainty always kept Mr Rabbit clean and dry. Getting their cutie marks was a long way away now, as they could barely keep themselves alive. All they saw was grey Manehatten, never getting a chance to see the colorful side ever again. Dainty was the only thing left that really mattered in Melony's life, and she did all she could to take care of her. She gave her little sister extra of what they found, and was willing to starve herself so her sister could feel better, no matter how small the difference. Tears often fell with the rain as their past memories came back to haunt them, but they always had each other. Always.

That is, until two years later. They were so skinny their skeletons showed, and they had grown used to the hunger. They had very little food, from what they could salvage on the streets. They had listened to mother's words, and run from home- run away, run far. Home was miles away, on the other side of the huge city. And they were long out of it.

That day, it rained. Not surprising to Melony.

Dainty let out a small cough, and hugged Mr Rabbit even closer. By this time he had cuts all over him, and was losing stuffing; but Dainty did her best to keep him together. Melony still carried her shoulder bag. They were under a bridge, away from the freezing rainwater. 

Dainty coughed again, and snuggled up against Melony, who put an arm around her sister's cold shoulders.

"I think I'm sick." Dainty said weakly, and Melony looked down. 

She placed a hoof on her forehead, and was surprised at how hot it was, despite the cold rainwater. Her heart panicked a little- they didn't have the medicine needed for Dainty to get better. The hospital wasn't too far away, and they got there in under an hour, with Dainty on Melony's back- but by the time they reached the huge glass double doors, the filly on Melony's back was already weak and tired, her fever burning up and taking her strength away.

Melony put some shoulder into the glass door while trying not to disturb the sleeping Dainty. The door creaked open, and she managed to squeeze through. Rain water dripped down her sides and made dirty puddles on the clean white tiled floor.

A nurse approached her, followed by a doctor. 

"Kid, why are you here?" the doctor asked coldly. "Get out."

"Wha-? But my sister, she's sick! You need to help her!" Melony looked up in disbelief.

"Yeah yeah, stop messing around. Pay or get out." the doctor pressed forward, forcing Melony to back against the glass doors again. She didn't understand- weren't doctors good? Weren't they supposed to heal ponies? And... Why is he acting so mean?

"Doctor! Please!" she squealed, and she could feel Dainty writhe on her back. She didn't understand why the magic word wasn't working.

"Just look her up! What's the big deal?" a blue pegasus filly with a rainbow colored mane said. Her wing was at an odd angle, obviously broken. 

"She obviously doesn't have any money- I've seen her on the streets multiple times already. I can't help patients that can't pay me! This is a hospital, not a charity." the doctor said without emotion. "Nurse, get miss Dash back to her room.

"But this isn't fair! Can't you tell they haven't eaten in what? Days? Weeks? Even months?" the blue filly said angrily. 

"The world isn't fair. Never was, miss Dash. You get back to your room." the doctor said, watching the nurse drag a protestant Rainbow Dash away from the reception room. "Now you two- don't come back here until you got enough money, understand? Leave!"

Melony quickly fled the hospital, tears stinging her eyes. She ran away from the hospital as far as she could. Out of breath and with her weak body aching all over, she slowed to a stop and set Dainty down. The rain hadn't stopped, and in this area there was no shelter. So the rain poured down on the sisters, and they couldn't do anything about it but cuddle close together. 

Melony pulled Dainty close to her heart, hoping she would miraculously heal- but she could feel her little body burning, her life being slowly eaten away. She cried, hugging Dainty tighter than ever. Her little sister, her only sister, and the last family she had, slowly slipping away in her arms. 

"Come on, Daint. Stay alive. Please, for me. Please stay alive..." Melony sobbed at her sister's weak breathing. If Dainty died, she didn't know where to go from there. There would be nothing, there would be no pony to cuddle with while alone on the streets. No pony that would understand her.

No pony that would care, she realized; but that one rainbow maned pegasus; who obviously wasn't from here. 

"Sis..." Dainty whispered weakly, nudging Melony slowly. Melony's heart melted at the sight of her sister. "Sis... Take care of Mr Rabbit for me... Please?"

This was it then. Melony couldn't hold back any longer. Tears had been leaking through, but now she released the valve and they were pouring down, still obvious despite the rain.

"Don't say that, Dainty! Please, don't say that... You'll be here to look after him yourself, alright? Please...." Melony struggled to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. "Don't say that..."

"I love you..." 

"I love you too! Oh Dainty..." Melony sobbed uncontrollably, and kept Dainty close to her body. She grabbed on desperately to her sister, clinging on with all her heart- but it didn't stop Dainty's life from slipping away.

Dainty took in her last breath in Melony's arms, a calm expression on her face.

"Stay strong..." she quoted father, Mr Rabbit slowly fell from her hooves, and she left.

Melony looked in disbelief at the little figure in her arms. Her body still warm, but her life gone. Her only thing left, taken away from her.   

"I will..." she whispered, gently laying down her sister's body and sobbing quietly. What more could she lose?

She slumped down onto the cold tiled walkway, letting the rain bombard her. She shielded Mr Rabbit from the cold, and kept her shoulder bag close. Her heart felt torn in two, one with all her hatred, anger and sin while the other was innocent and naïve. And she was split in the middle.

Sorry, Dainty. Sorry, mom, dad. Sorry I couldn't do anything.

*

Present day, Cloudsdale.


"I'm not drunk damnit!" Rainbow said, with an arm around Octavia's shoulder, who was assisting her in the simple maneuver of walking, which seemed quite hard for the blue pegasus right now. 

"Yeah, I can tell." Octavia said glumly, as Rainbow tripped over herself and fell face-first into the clouds. She may have 'accidentally' let go. 

"Ow." Rainbow's voice was muffled by the clouds.

"Is she always like this?" Scootaloo asked. 

"Yeah. Usually." Octavia said.

"Lies!" Rainbow cried from the ground.

"We better get you back to the hotel." Octavia scooped her up again. "Well, nice meeting you, Scootaloo." 

"Yeah, you too." Scootaloo smiled.

"Bye~~" Rainbow waved her half-empty wine bottle about, the contents spilling out the side and sloshing around, her voice unstable and wobbly like her legs. 

By the time they were at their hotel room, Rainbow was so drunk that the first thing she did was run to the bathroom and vomit. Octavia found some fluffy pink earmuffs and put them on to block out the horrific spewing noises. 

"Feeling better?" she asked when Rainbow came back out, wiping her mouth with a tissue.

"Better... Wait, nope." she said, and ran back into the toilet. Octavia put the earmuffs back on. 

After half an hour of spewing and gagging noises, Rainbow was finally able to stop. Limping her way out of the bathroom(which Octavia refused to clean up), she fell backwards and slammed onto the bed.

"I like what you did with the place." she said, looking at all the wires and equipment.

"I like what you did to the bathroom." Octavia said, scanning at all the indicator lights on the devices then peering through the open door. "Want some water?"

"Yes please." Rainbow croaked, her mouth and throat dry.

Octavia went into the kitchen, and re-emerged later with a crystal clear glass of water which Rainbow gulped down gratefully.

"Thanks. You're a good friend." Rainbow swallowed, sighing as her headache started creeping back in.

"Mmm. I know." Octavia took the glass and was about to head to the kitchen to wash it, when Rainbow stopped her with something she rarely would ever say.

"No, I mean it. Octavia, you're a really, really good friend." 

Octavia paused, not sure how to handle the situation. They were friends, good ones too, and they knew. But they never said it out loud.

"You are too." was what she went with, and she also meant it. 

*

Many years ago, unknown location.


Melony had her eyes half closed, only just peeking through her eye lashes. The ponies that brought her here promised her the opportunity to bring Dainty back to life- so what more could she ask for? She'll pay any price, absolutely any price to take that opportunity. The ponies called themselves the science faction, something she heard of but couldn't quite remember. 

But then, there was the price. She was willing to pay it, of course, but it wasn't an easy one. She had to work for them.

It may sound simple, but they said they had to perform surgery on her before she could carry out those tasks. And so she let them.

Now after a long sleep, she was waking up again.

"Ah, implants were successful. She's still alive." a stallion said, a gas mask covering his face.

"Ain't it just beautiful?" a pony said, also wearing a gas mask. A bright light shone on Melony's face, and she couldn't make out any details other than that. She could feel her skin throbbing, but somehow it also felt natural- more natural than before. She felt energy in her she didn't feel in years, like she just gained all the weight she lost in the last two years. And she could feel something odd about her front hooves... There were things attached to it, she couldn't tell what, but they were a part of her. 

"I think we'll nick name her.... Neon, for now." the stallion said.

"A suitable name." the pony nodded.

"But why did they choose her again?" the stallion asked.

"Her family is dead, and she's willing to pay the price- simple as that- a killer with no past or identity, this'll keep us off radar for sure, until the big day." the pony said.

"The big day..." the stallion murmured, a wicked smile in his voice.

"Get her ready for the endurance test. This'll be a first, if she passes." the pony said, turning a valve. All of a sudden darkness started engulfing Melony's vision, and slowly she blacked out, the sedatives keeping her asleep.

When she woke up again, she was lying in a contained room, her face pressed hard against the cold concrete floor. Everything was concrete, grey with white scratch marks on the walls that she couldn't explain. A window was on one side, a very large one stretching across the room. Judging by the frame, it was more than a few inches thick. There were ponies in lab coats jotting down notes on the opposite side as she got up. Her skin felt normal again.

Melony rubbed her eyes, not knowing where she was. She was scared, and quivered with cold. And then she remembered her parents and her sister, all dead. That made her angry, angry at nothing more than herself. 

Suddenly pain burst into her head, and she screamed. She fell to her knees, slamming the floor again and again as the pain in her head was unbearable. She didn't know what she was doing. Tears streamed out of her eyes as the pain intensified.

Something cold touched her back, but she knew no one else was in here with her. The cold began to stretch and close around her body, and she could hear quiet beeps behind her. It felt like a liquid slowly overcoming her, but bit by bit, not smooth. 

The skin that the odd cold covered felt natural, the same weird natural feel she felt the last time she awoke. And then it covered her body, spreading down her legs and coming up to her shoulders.

She forced herself to pull a hoof away from her head to see what it was, and all she saw were black pixels appearing on her hoof and joining together, forming a smooth black skin. There was a whirring noise as the back of her hoof suddenly felt shaky, and a white circle appeared there- bright and beautiful. It glowed in the dimly lit room, but didn't cease Melony's pain. 

From the circle lines of neon lights spread down the length of her hoof and onto other parts of her body, but her headache was keeping her from looking anywhere. 

She was still screaming when the black stuff went up to her neck, then to her face, then to her mouth. Her scream split into several different vocals, then settled to a robotic tone. She fell still as the sudden pain ceased, and stood up slowly.

She could feel that her face was covered, but she could still see. Everything felt right- natural, to be honest. Except for her heart- there was no love there, just emptiness. Right now she was concentrated on one goal- to revive her dead sister. How she was to do that she didn't know, but she did know she will find a way by helping the science faction- by helping them do whatever they wanted her to do. She realized there was no pony to care about what she did, and she was alone. All she needed to do was dispose of these ridiculous ponies afterwards, and then she could be with her sister again.

But that was only a goal. She felt nothing towards it. No burning anticipation that her sister will be back, just knowing that she'll accomplish her objective. 

Her hooves felt funny, so she looked down to find claws there instead of hooves. Claws, long sharp and dangerous claws. The razor edges shone in the light, a ghostly glow cast across the blades by the neon lights covering her body.

"Neon." a heavily synthesized voice boomed from a megaphone. 

Melony turned around- she recognized the name Neon. It was hers. 

"I have an order for you." the voice continued.

"Tell me what to do." Neon said in her robotic voice. 

"Tear apart those items. Do not hesitate." 

Neon looked up, and saw some belongings that belonged to someone she knew- Melony, was it? A shoulder bag, a watch, a photograph, a teddy bear, and a rabbit soft toy.

She started slowly walking towards it, cocking her head to one side to study the items. They meant nothing to her. Maybe to Melony, but not to Neon. She scraped her claws against each other, sharpening the edges, and tore the belongings into shreds. 

A moment later, the synthesized voice boomed again: "Congratulations, Neon- you have passed the test." 

Then Mr. Rabbit's head fell to the floor, followed by drifting stuffing.

*

Present day, Cloudsdale.


Rainbow woke up to the sweet odor of hot chocolate, and the sun light shining in was a bright orange with streaks of red. Her sheets were scrambled all about, and her hair messy and all over the place. Slowly opening her eyes, she eyed the clock by her bedside table. Five in the morning- nice and early for a day of disaster. 

"Ah, you're awake." Octavia said, lowering the binoculars from her eyes from where she stood in front of the glass wall. "I made hot cocoa." 

"Mmmmmm...?" Rainbow was slightly confused, her mind not yet sharp. She felt oddly free, and then noticed the pain in her wing had faded. Happy that there was hot cocoa and a good wing, she grinned inwardly. On the outside, she said thank you to Octavia and took a sip.

Octavia resumed her watch out over Cloudsdale, her own cup of hot chocolate steaming on a table nearby. 

"Why'd you wake up so early?" Rainbow rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her relatively blurry vision.

"I heard sunset here in Cloudsdale is legendary." Octavia smiled. "And so it is." 

Rainbow smiled. She herself didn't know how many times she had set eyes on the scene, but no matter how many, she always knew it would be beautiful, and always loved it.

"What a beautiful day..." she yawned loudly, stretching her limbs and wings. Her joints cracked satisfyingly, and felt nice and loose. 

She stood up, and felt a little guilty as she saw Octavia's neatly folded sheets. She was never one for making beds, but she reckoned it was about time she learned. She tried the best she could to fold hers, but they looked nothing liked Octavia's. Guess there is a difference between a high-end Canterlot pony and a slightly low-class Ponyville pony- but she really didn't give a crap.

"Come on- let's head to the roof top. I assure you, the view is much better there." Rainbow said, her mane still messed up and still dressed in her white pajama shirt and light blue pants. For such an important date, she was dressed in quite a casual manner. 

They didn't take the elevator for whatever reason, and walked up the several flights of stairs. Maybe it was because of the anticipation, waiting for the best view to burst into their sight. There was a rusted metal door ahead, and Rainbow opened it only by the slightest.

A strand of golden light leaked through, and Octavia couldn't possibly have been prepared for what came behind it as Rainbow pushed the door all the way open.

At first, all she could see were streaks of gold and orange, but then as her eyes adjusted from the darkness of the stairwell, she gasped in wonder. Rainbow grinned, scanning the view herself for the thousandth time- and the first in years. 

Below was the City of the Pegasi, its white buildings rimmed with golden light, tinted a slight shade of orange. Over the edge, the bright tangerine sun shone over the scene, casting streams of light over the city. The normal clouds that floated around were tinted gold, each and every one decorated with a glimmering lining- gold beats silver, after all. 
The sky was light orange and pink, the usual blue nowhere to be found. 

The shadows of the handrails that stood on the edge of the roof stretched over the white clouds they stood on, giving the view an unexpected depth that Octavia simply gaped at. 

But it was more than the view- the sensation, the wind raking through her mane, the breeze on her face, and the fresh morning air. Everything was lovely.

Seeing Octavia enjoying the view, Rainbow led her to the handrails, and leaned onto them. It was truly beautiful, and Octavia was mesmerized.

Rainbow stretched her wings, allowing the wind to ruffle her feathers. How she missed that feel. 

Octavia took off her hat, and truly let her mane flow. It had a natural feel to it she never imagined before. This was true peace.

They were both relatively disappointed when they had to return to the apartment- the royals arrive this afternoon, and they didn't have much time to make their final preparations.

Magnum was in a different hotel, closer to the school so she could take out any suspects if necessary. Iris and Shining Armor are at the reception, both having princesses as wives, but also because their magical capabilities can help defend the royals.

As for Rainbow and Octavia, they'll just seek and destroy. 

Rainbow slipped on her coat and her normal dark clothes, then carelessly and briefly ran a brush through her mane. Putting a hat on, she made sure all her weapons and equipment were with her. Conducting one final mic check, she nodded to Octavia, who returned it. 

It was time. 

> Chapter 9: Rise of Science
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow was hidden in a classroom, Octavia somewhere else. The little fillies crowded around the royals, squealing in delight at the princess' beautiful flowing manes. 

She still had her ears pricked and her eyes peeled, but it had been an hour since the royals arrived, and no suspicious characters were detected. They were playing the waiting game, Rainbow realized. Just waiting to catch them off guard. 

She won't let that happen.

Except, she really didn't have a choice when it really all kicked off.

A rumbling so loud that it even shook the foundations of Cloudsdale came from below, and everypony rushed to the edge of the city to take a look down. 

The earth was shaking, shaking more than it ever did. Cities crumbled into piles of ruble below them, and they all gasped in horror and covered their eyes. But this was no ordinary earthquake, the bounty hunters realized.

Some parts of the earth were beginning to lift, only some points. They rose from the rest, and then abruptly broke apart, and they could see the waves traveling down the crust, shaking more buildings as they sped below.

Wells began forming in the ground, earth crumbling and falling away into huge mile-wide holes. Then dark metal tips began rising out of the ground, a laser at each tip and pointing towards the sky. Still they rose, and still the rumbling went on.

It turned out they were giant spaceships, irregularly shaped cones with powerful thrusters beneath them. They pushed out of the earth, hundreds of them, maybe even thousands. Each was several miles apart, and a mile in width. The amount of them was so massive that the line of ships stretched beyond the horizon, disappearing from view. The ponies could even see them curve out of sight, following the earth's surface.

They rose into the sky, pushing clouds aside and casting the largest shadows that any pony has ever seen across the lands of Equestria. For a moment they hovered there in the atmosphere, their engines ablaze and keeping them in the air.

Princess Celestia and Luna had joined the crowd at the end of Cloudsdale, watching the ships. They stared, unable to believe their eyes, but not showing it. This was a full scale attack, and the leaders are expected to remain calm.

"Gather all available forces, Shining Armor; for we have a crisis on our hooves." Celestia said, trying to keep her voice calm.

Octavia joined Rainbow's side, staring at the ships. They didn't have any clue what they did, and could only hope for the best.

Suddenly there was a metallic groan, the noise echoing up and down the length of Equestria. The metal cones split, slowly opening up like flowers. The petals unfolded, and Rainbow could see churning mechanics on each one of them. Octavia put her binoculars to her eyes, pointed them towards one of the leaves, and gulped. From what she saw, Equestria really didn't have much of a fate left.

"Give me that." Rainbow said, snatching away the binoculars and taking a look for herself. She fell still the moment she saw what was on those leaves.

Slowly being pieced together, were weapons of all sorts, some they couldn't even name. They were seemingly from a different age, a more advanced one. Turrets popped out from their sockets, gates opened up and Rainbow could see jet fighters of an alien sort all lined up and ready to go. Missile silos were fully loaded and the warheads pointed at the ground, ready for annihilation. Cannons clicked into place, swirling about and searching for a target. All tightly formed on the leaves.

The points of all the leaves joined together, and all the ships were connected together in a few clicks that echoed over the earth, creating a giant metal shell that ran the length of Equestria; barricading it from everything- absolutely everything else. The land of Equestria was thrown into panic as its citizens ran about and screamed at their impending doom. 

Celestia was still looking up firmly, not losing her sense of authority. She saw the markings on the ships. They were ancient markings she saw before, and she knew what was coming if they were true. 

Science, is back.

Long ago, at the very start of time, there were two powerful factions that ruled the lands of Equestria together. The two factions were Science, and Magic. Magic was limited, and slow developing, but a very strong superpower despite all this. Science was still at its start, but was developing quickly. Then ponies saw what Science could accomplish that Magic could not, and began experimenting. Magic never found Science's rapid development intimidating, and in fact, the faction was proud of what the pony race had accomplished as a whole. 

But then some ponies found a way to use Science in ways never intended. In ways of mass destruction, in ways of hurt. Magic saw this unfit, and attempted negotiation with the Science faction.

Viewing this as a threat, Science decided to wipe out all existence of magic, and dominate Equestria, as they found no use for the Magic faction. A great war broke out, in which entire populations were annihilated, millions killed, and the destruction stretched beyond Equestria. Finally Science was defeated, but the losses and damage to the land itself almost rendered Equestria inhabitable.

Celestia feared this would happen again, and judging from what she's been seeing so far, the Science faction may have finally grown stronger than the Magic faction.

Then the first wave of attacks hit, large drop ships coming out of hangars in the barricade. Fighters deployed, millions and millions of them, and the barricade rained down missiles and laser fire on Equestria.  

The ground was littered with craters by now as millions of weapons opened fire. Equestria was in a state of chaos, its military without orders- but that was about to change.

"Our troops are on their way. Some of the convoys are... Having problems." Shining Armor sighed. As much as he didn't want to think about it- and as fast as it happened, Equestria was now at war. "Princess, I advise that the royals retreat to Canterlot and co-ordinate our attacks there. Right now we need a leader to lead this battle, this war. Princess, that is you." They also needed to figure out what the buck was going on.

"Princess- I assure you this is not the time to stay and fight! We fight, princess; that is what we are here for." a royal guard said from nearby, saluting.

"We have all our arial transports deployed, so we'll only be able to take you in an armored truck. Too dangerous for flying anyway, with all the jets deployed by the Science faction." Halcyon Fleet said, one of the Princess's two royal body guards and a Warden, undoubtedly a hard fighter. Right now she had her full body armor on, her light blue helmet well polished and shiny. She had her long rifle slung across her back, and her secondary weapons and grenades all tightly buckled to her belt.

"Thank you, Halcyon. But I cannot risk my subjects." Celestia sighed.

"Sister- did you look around yourself?" Luna asked incredulously. "We don't make this move, everypony dies. The Science faction wins!" 

"Wait, how does everypony know about this Science faction thingy?" Shining Armor raised an eyebrow.

"It's an old filly's tale!" Cadence said, lovingly ruffling the captain-of-the-royal guard's mane. "Remind me to tell it to you some time when this is all over." 

Shining Armor ignored the giggles from his lower ranking officers and sighed. War is hell.

*

"Twenty miles till we're in range for teleportation!" Halcyon yelled. They were in an armored truck, and they could hear all the explosions going on outside. The plan was to drive the truck close enough to Canterlot and then have Celestia teleport them there- but there was a range limit, so this will take a while. The bounty hunters were assisting them, although Halcyon wasn't sure whether she liked that or not. But since Shining Armor trusts them- then why not? 

Celestia had teleported them all down here from Cloudsdale, but it was too dangerous to make random jumps and jump to Canterlot- for all they know, they could accidentally teleport into a bomb.

They were all tuned on the same channel for the mics- only Magic faction ponies may access these specific channels, and attempts by other factions will be useless. 

"Taking some heat up here! Octavia! Fire support!" Rainbow Dash yelled through the mic. 

"On it." Octavia buzzed. All the sounds of battle were coming through the mic, and it made Halcyon tighten her grip on her rifle.

"Hang in there everypony. We gotta make it." the driver said.

Princess Celestia and Luna were co-ordinating attacks, their eyes misty as they tuned into the eyes of the soldiers. Their magic allowed them to do that, to see what others see. But it also left them completely vulnerable, and that is why they must head to Canterlot- the single most secure location currently in Equestria.

"This is one heck of a bumpy ride. Prepare for emergency deploy- the road ahead is barricaded!" the driver shouted.

"Missiles!" Halcyon yelled as she heard the distinct screeching of one as it flew towards them. It hit off target, but the explosion was enough to tip the car to one side. 

"Gah!" one of the royal guards shouted as he hit the floor then tumbled onto the wall when the car tipped. Halcyon unbuckled her seat belt, and fell down onto the opposing wall. She quickly got up, loading her rifle.

"Out! Out! OUT!" She yelled, lashing out a kick that sent the back doors of the truck off their hinges and sprawling across the floor. Outside was total chaos, with explosions that seemed to never stop and generally nothing that reminded her of Equestria. No beautiful land- just smoldering remains of... Everything. "Protect the princesses!" she yelled, firing her rifle at some jet fighters that screeched past. "Come on, princess. Let's get ya to safety." she assisted the royals out of the truck.

"Roughly nineteen miles from here- this way! Move it, move it!" the driver yelled, unslinging his own rifle. 

"Air team! Establish aerial superiority- concentrate fire on the air space above our location! We need the princesses in Canterlot immediately!" Halcyon yelled.

"We have an air transport in the area!" an unfamiliar voice said through the mic. "I'm on it right now. But you'll have to clear the LZ first, transport can't land with all the fire! But we'll provide air support, over."

"Who the buck is that?" Halcyon asked.

"She's the best sniper you'll ever see- well, hear about- people unusually get shot before they see her- and be glad she's on our side." Shining Armor said.

"There's a clearing ahead of you." Magnum said. "Roughly three miles. It's clear of debris and all, flat ground for our helicopter to land. Think you can make it there?" 

"Oh well. Was in our path anyway." Halcyon said. "Can we make a tele-jump there?"

"Negative. It's heavily fortified. Can't risk a blind jump." Rainbow said.

"Right. We got multiple tangos coming in, your three o'clock. One heavy armor at nine." Magnum said, and Halcyon heard her rifle go off- the blast could be heard outside the mic as the armor piercing round hit its target. They were in the middle of old Fillydelphia, but it had been almost completely demolished, and the buildings that still stood were irreparable. There were parts of the city on fire and there was smoke everywhere. The carcasses of cars and busses were scattered on the streets, some half disintegrated in large bomb craters. Bodies could be seen too, but they merged in with the view so well that none of the ponies noticed them at first. And then the noises- constant rumbling as more buildings went down, booms as explosions tore through Equestria, and the distant and also constant yelling and screaming merged into one unbearable noise.

"There they are! Take cover!" Halcyon yelled, crouching down next to a car. "They're flanking us! Rainbow, can you take out that heavy?" 

"I'm a little occupied!" Rainbow said, flying left and dodging a missile shot at her from a jet fighter. She had a combat flight suit on, those were metal armor plates that clamped around your body but were enchanted so they're really light weight. There were two weapons on the back, twin cannons that fire off previously charged spells. The spells were highly effective against metal, and could rip right through. Somehow it did less damage on flesh, so there are also machine guns mounted. The downside is that most homing missile types will be able to track the suit, so there is an eject system that throws the pony away and uses the suit as bait. Wasn't that expensive to produce, after all.

"Done." Magnum said, firing a round into the heavily armored tank. Somehow the bullet punched through all the layers of armor, and it stopped in its tracks, the driver probably bleeding brains on the controller. 

"Enemy transport!" Halcyon yelled, then realized there was no end to this. They were coming from the barricade above, and basically a different planet. Imagine how many ponies you could fit in that thing. 

"Scoots!" Rainbow yelled. "Shoot down those transports!" 

"On it." Scootaloo also had a suit on. Beating her wings furiously against the air, she rode the wind and headed straight for the transport, a beam of magical energy ripping through its engines.

Its back section exploded, smoldering pieces falling to the ground. The transport seemed to still hover at first, then slowly followed the falling pieces.

"Good work!" Rainbow said. But then she hit something, and smashed through. It was one of those invisible copters.

Inside, all the Science faction ponies turned to look at her. Realizing it was an enemy, they scattered for their rifles.

All Scootaloo saw were Science faction ponies appearing out of thin air and then falling to their deaths as Rainbow caused havoc inside the copter. Then Rainbow emerged, and an explosion went off on the ground below her.

"Invisible transports." Rainbow explained. 

"Iris, can you see them?" Shining Armor asked.

"Hold on..." Iris looked closer at the area around them, getting the right feel. When he found it, he could see at least ten transports coming their way. "Ten targets!"

"Shuck!" Halcyon yelled. "We can't hold off much longer! They're appearing out of everywhere!" 

Princess Celestia and Luna were fighting too, the latter having her shadows coiled around her body as a shield against the bullets. She had dark blades lash out at the science faction ponies, slicing them into peices. Really, really small peices.

Celestia brought the fury of the sun down, sending solar flares down through the holes in the barricade and bombarding the enemy troops with heavy particles. She tried hitting the barricade before, but it had some sort of shield that prevented such an attack from causing damage.

There were no tactics in this war. It's just kill all of them, or they'll kill all of us.

"Air support team, get out of the area." Luna said.

"Princess?" Rainbow asked incredulously.

"Out." Luna said, lowering her head and her eyes glowing light purple.

The air team quickly retreated.

A dome of shadows suddenly came into existence around the ground team, and the royal guards gasped in wonder. The shield glowed dark purple, then expanded, knocking down any invisible transport that may have been in the area. All Rainbow saw were random explosions on the shield as helicopters went down, then the carcasses that rolled down the side. The shield disappeared, and Luna panted for breath.

"Do not hold back on your energy Luna- I assure you, this is the time to use that energy." Celestia said. "But do not push yourself over the edge."

Luna simply nodded, slowly gaining her breath.

"Air team! Cover fire!" Halcyon reloaded her rifle. "Blaze!" she tapped a royal guard on the shoulder. "Follow me! We need to charge out and get those bastards out from behind cover and clear the path. Ready?" 

He nodded, and posed, ready to sprint and get to cover. 

"Three, two, one-" Halcyon leaped over the car she was hiding behind, her rifle ablaze.

"Come on your highnesses," Shining Armor patted Cadence on the back. "We need to move!" 

"Keep your heads low!" Iris said, at the end of the group as they ran for the landing zone.

"Aerial space is clear. Air support is here!" Rainbow cried.

"Fire on targets- twelve o'clock! Get them!" Halcyon said, popping up from behind a bus and taking down two Science faction ponies with a spray of her rifle.

"Shuck!" Blaze ducked back behind cover as a series of bullets hit the car he was hiding behind, showering him with sparks. "We've got a heavy machine gun!"

"No we don't." Magnum said, followed by a loud bang. 

"Thanks." Blaze said, then resumed firing.

"One mile to go!" Halcyon said. "Plow through them! Our top priority is to get royalty back to Canterlot!" 

They could see Canterlot in the distance, and it was under attack too- but the heavily fortified position on the side of a cliff meant the enemy ponies must proceed through the front gates, and the royal army inside were holding off nicely. There was a shield generator inside Canterlot that prevented the barricade from doing anything from the outside, and was practically indestructible unless somepony turned off the shield.

"Transports! Up ahead! They're trying to block us!" Blaze kept his trigger down.

"Yeah. On it." Rainbow said. Blaze looked up, and spotted the two pegasi with their wings tucked in, slicing through the air at near sonic speed, all weapons blazing at the transports.

"Oh shuck- look out!" Blaze yelled, and tackled Halcyon. Both tumbled onto the ground, but they still couldn't avoid the out-of-control helicopter that came right down on the both of them, metal groaning and cracking as the flaming shell slammed into the ground.
> Chapter 10: Gather, Everypony!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Halcyon tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt especially heavy. All she could see were blurs. There was a small flickering fire nearby, and she could feel the heat of it on her face. There was dust in her eye lashes and on her face. She tried to wipe them away, but her arm felt like lead. She still wiped away the ash though, and now she could see more clearly.

She was inside a concrete cave of some sort- no, not just concrete. It seems there were remains of cars here too. It was a small area, the cave being only about a meter wide. She looked around, and found no escape path. There seemed to be an aircraft of some sort overhead, covering the little crater in the ground that she was in. 

She tried to move, but found that there was something on her back. She looked to her side, and found Blaze, unconscious and his arm dangling over her back.

Halcyon sat down, gently laying Blaze's arm down. She remembered now- he saved the both of their lives. She and Blaze did have a some-what romantic history, but that faded quite quickly during an incident years ago when Princess Celestia was almost assassinated. Now they were alone again, and the radio was dead. There was no way out, and they were trapped down here with a small fire. At least she got to spend her last few minutes with the one stallion she loved, and at least it was warm.

She took off her helmet- it had dents in it already, and the once polished shine was gone. Setting it aside, she placed her rifle down next to it and tried to find a comfortable position.

Hearing Blaze moan, she quickly got to his side. He had a trickle of blood sliding down his forehead, so Halcyon took his helmet off. 

His orange hair was matted with blood, and she did her best to clean the dried blood out without hurting him. 

"I'm so sorry I dragged you into this." Halcyon said quietly, hugging him close.

Blaze's eyes opened the slightest, and he smiled. "I'm just glad I can be with you." he said.

Halcyon's heart melted, as if consumed by the fire. She buried her face in his shoulder, not wanting to cry but not wanting to hold back either. She felt Blaze's arms close around her back, pulling her closer. 

There was no fear in the inevitable. It was warm here, with the fire and all. It was nice and cosy, but the scenery could improve. And most importantly, they were together.

Shuffling down beside Blaze, Halcyon rested her head on his shoulder. 

"I love you." he whispered, kissing her on the forehead.

"Love you too." Halcyon smiled gently, returning the kiss on his cheek.

Now to wait for their oxygen to burn up in the fire, and fall into eternal sleep. 

*

"Ground team is nearing the landing zone!" Rainbow yelled. "Wait a sec, aren't we missing some ponies?" 

"Halcyon and Blaze. I don't think they made it- a transport crashed onto them." Shining Armor sighed. "They were good soldiers.

"At least they had each other right?" a royal guard named Starshine said. "Couples to the end..."

"Damnit." a different royal guard known as Storm rubbed a wet eye. "The two were nice. Now come on, we don't have time to waste. Let's finish what they tried to finish." 

"Rainbow, provide overhead... Stay alive, everypony." Shining Armor said.

"Coming round for a sweep." Rainbow said. "Scoots, clear the air space will ya?" 

"On it." Scootaloo said, flying towards a squadron of enemy jet fighters.

"Cover your ears!" Rainbow yelled through gritted teeth as she dived for the ground troops heading for the royals. She felt the familiar sensation of bending and twisting air pressure, her front hooves stretched out and bending the fabric of sound.

The ponies on the ground watched as the rainbow colored blur sped up to the enemy ground troops in less than a second, and covered their ears.

Rainbow timed it exactly right, setting off a sonic rainboom dead center. The blast and waves of rainbows took the enemies clean off their hooves, screaming as their eardrums ruptured. The friendly units merely tripped over themselves, and were left with ringing ears. 

"They're disabled! Charge!" Storm yelled, scrambling to his hooves and running forward,  taking down a number of science faction ponies. 

"Captain of the Wonderbolts speaking to ground units- I heard you needed help?" 

At first Rainbow thought she was hallucinating, but then she saw the figures dressed in blue zoom past overhead, leaving a trail of thunderclouds in their wake. She quickly shook her head, clearing it. She may have stopped pursuing the dream of becoming a Wonderbolt, but it still didn't change the fact that they were awesome.

"Good to hear another friendly voice Captain Spitfire." Shining Armor said. "Mind keeping the transports and fighters off our tail?" 

"Not at all, captain." Spitfire addressed Shining Armor.

There was a swarm of transports escorted by jet fighters not too far away, flying towards their location.

"Show them what we've got boys." Spitfire said. They weren't armed, but taking down an aircraft would still be easy. Plus they weren't used to flying with a few kilos of armor on, so they decided to just wing it. 

The Wonderbolts sped over to the swarm in tight formation, then spread out to circle the swarm of enemies. Spitfire flew above, heading straight for the sky. Her teammates below were keeping the swarm herded in one tight ball, and haven't sustained any injuries at all despite all the missiles and bullets hurled at them.

Spitfire spread out her wings, stopping miles above the actual battle. She then streamlined, turned around and came back down, her mane and tail trailing behind her. 

Rainbow saw the fabric of reality bend around Spitfire just like it would before she performed the sonic rainboom. She could hear the screeching of the wind through the mic.

The other Wonderbolts suddenly turned away from the transports, and with a bright flash all disappeared. Rainbow heard rumors of that trick before in Manehatten, but never thought they were true- the Wonderbolts can go from zero to three hundred thousand kilometers per second in less than zero point five seconds- faster than light speed(though maintaining that was a different matter). Right now they were probably somewhere miles away- no wonder not even the bullets could hit them.

Spitfire's blue and orange form reached the center of the swarm, stretching the sonic bubble with her. It was huge, and engulfed the entire team of twenty aircraft. The jet fighters were fast enough to escape, but the transports weren't so lucky. 

Spitfire suddenly made a one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn, heading back to the sky, also breaking away from the sonic bubble.

The bubble closed around the transports, sealing them in. Spitfire then came back down again, this time shattering the sound barrier, a trail of flames left behind her as she sped straight through the sonic bubble.

The bubble imploded, taking all the transports inside with it in the largest fireball any pony had ever seen. 

Everypony felt the air around them being sucked away as the fireball consumed all the oxygen, drawing in the gas. And then it broke apart, releasing a massive amount of air and blowing everypony off their hooves. The jet fighters that didn't make it out in time were blown away, their engines spluttering and all their systems going offline. 

Rainbow and Scootaloo were both tumbling through the air, having lost their sense of direction. Rainbow stretched her wings out, and the wind slowed her down. She finally stopped spinning, and hovered there, searching for Scootaloo. 

"That was awesome." Scootaloo said, flying down next to her.

"Where'd they go?" Rainbow frowned. "Never mind. Take care of those fighters-"

But they didn't need to, as there was a bright flash and the Wonderbolts quite literally plowed through all the remaining jets. 

"How...?" Scootaloo gaped.

"Something happens when you enter light speed... Maybe invincibility is one of them." Rainbow shrugged.

"Dash!" Spitfire suddenly appeared in front of them. 

"Good to see you, Spitfire." Rainbow said.

"You can have fun on the ground. Me and the guys'll take care of the skies." Spitfire said, winking. "Although, it's your choice." 

"Not much fun up here since you guys came." Rainbow said. She might enjoy causing havoc with her childhood heroes, but they'll just take down all the targets before she could lend a hoof- so, why not.

"Have fun on the ground then." Spitfire vanished back into battle with a flash. 

"Just need to dispose of this first." Rainbow muttered, shrugging off her armor. Tuning a knob to the right frequency, she threw it down at the ground troops. The armor self detonated through a spell, sending enemy ponies flying.

"What should I do?" Scootaloo asked.

"Get a gun." Rainbow said. "Octavia- gimme my sword."

"Wait, wha...?" Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Firing." Octavia was in the car, probably giving reports of enemy sightings. Somehow it was perfectly fine when they found it at the airport, so they used it as a communications relay. Right now it was hidden underneath Cloudsdale, the gravity inverted.  

A loud bang came through the mic, and Rainbow looked in the direction of Cloudsdale. Then the metal canister came screeching down, and she caught it in her hoof. 

"What is that? Sword? What? I'm confused." Scootaloo rubbed her head.

"Don't worry. Just get a gun. Oh yeah, and look away." Rainbow said, flying towards the enemy ground troops, her sword already unfolding. 

The first science marine to spot her yelled out, but before he could really say any words his head had already started falling towards the floor. And when it did finally touch the ground, Rainbow was long gone. 

The science ponies swiveled about, pointing their guns at anything that moved. All they saw was a rainbow-colored flash, and then two more of their stallions crumbled to the floor, blood gushing from their sides. One of them screamed and started shooting everywhere, but he too fell to the floor in halves a second later.

Now the fear was starting to set in, just like Rainbow wanted it to. Fear will throw them off guard. Fear will make them panic. Fear will make everything a lot easier.

"Retreat! Re-" Rainbow dashed out from behind cover, her blade raised at neck-level. She ran past the yelling stallion, her blade slicing through. And before any of the stallions noticed, she was hidden behind a car again.

"Where is it? WHERE IS IT?" the stallions seemed to be driven mad, firing at the smallest noise- although the background explosions did their part too. 

"She changed." Scootaloo said for the thousandth time, gulping.

"Rainbow- are you doing this?" Shining Armor asked.

"Yep." Rainbow whispered.

"You're under arrest." he said flatly. The killing style was an exact match to those of the massacres. 

"Sad." Rainbow said, coming out of cover again. To Shining Armor, all there was was a rainbow flash and the stallion standing there seconds ago was in two pieces, still in the process of falling to the ground, accompanied by a large amount of blood.

"Oh dear- was that...? I can't believe it..." Cadence shielded her eyes from the cruel massacre scene. "That little pegasus at our wedding did this?"

"I don't know why, or how. But she changed." Shining Armor said gently, laying a hoof on Cadence's back.

"Area clear. Ground team, you may proceed to LZ." Spitfire reported from above. "Cruel job, Dash."

"Yeah, thanks." 

"Alright. Pilot, get us on the ground." Magnum said, smiling. "Good work everypony. But we've got a mighty load more to go." 

"Shining Armor! Can you set up a shield? They're readying the missile silos on the barricade. I see the turrets are coming back to point at us." Rainbow said, looking up.

Shining Armor closed his eyes, his horn starting to glow. A second later a shield formed over them, temporary cover from the missiles and lasers above.

"Damn. We need to take care of that barricade." Storm said.

"Somepony will have to go in- but we need a more detailed plan first. Come on ground team, say bye to the princess and we've got more work to do." Starshine said, clicking his rifle.

*

Halcyon abruptly woke up to the strong smell of smoke, coughing and spluttering.

"Oh god, I'm in hell." she muttered, but then noticed she was still in her tomb. Looking to her right, Blaze was still there, his chest heaving.

Maybe there was a way out. By looking at her watch, it had been an hour already- the smoke must've found a way out- and possibly it was a way out for them too.

She quickly got up, tracking the smoke and seeing where it would go, allowing it to lead her.

She found a small hole in the roof she didn't notice earlier, excitement boiling in her chest. She rushed back to Blaze.

"Blaze! BLAZE! Get up! We might make it!" she tugged at his arm, and with a moan he opened his eyes.

"Wha-?" 

"Come on!" Halcyon dragged him over to the hole in the roof. It was too small to climb through, so they'll have to start digging. She got her rifle, and started chipping away at the soft rock. It was painfully slow progress, but there was still hope.

With the help of Blaze and a bit of their unicorn power, they finally dug through the debris. But then it wasn't over- the barricade was still up, Equestria still under attack.

Halcyon quickly gave Blaze a kiss. "Come on. We need to check if the princess is alright-"

"Unit twenty three- is that you?" a fuzzy voice came through the mic. They had signal again.

"Storm! What happened? How's the princess?" 

"On her way to Canterlot. Our ground team has been dispatched to the eastern sector of Fillydelphia. We're heading over now. Glad you're still alive. Is Blaze with you?"

"Yup. All safe and sound- for now. Where should we meet you?" Halcyon checked her rifle.

"We're too far off I'm afraid. Squad seven is close to your location, contact them and provide additional support. Good luck. Storm out." 

"Right. Halcyon, out." Halcyon kept her rifle in her hooves. "Squad seven?"

"Hello unit twenty three. This is squad seven's commander." a voice said through the mic. 

"My partner and I've been trapped under some rubble for an hour or so. We can't regroup with our team." 

"Well in that case, welcome aboard squad seven." the commander said. "We're fending off the attack around X36 and Y48."

"On my way." Halcyon said, hanging up. She turned to Blaze. "So what are our co-ordinates again?"

*

The white unicorn slowly peeked over the edge of the cliff, looking down at her old home. The barricade loomed over it, showering Equestria with doom.

She moved aside a strand of blue hair, her red eyes watering.

"Miss?" a soft voice asked behind her. "Time to head back." 

"What point is there? I've got no friends there." 

"But you have your life there." her hired servant said. "Come on, you've got to retreat and get to safety. Let's not let the past get in the way, yes?" 

"Past? My friends aren't my past." the unicorn sighed. She may have left long ago, but Equestria needed her- no matter how small the contributions she could make, Equestria still needed her. She was outside the barricade, safe and sound. She hid from the dark all these years. But now it's time to plunge back in. Octavia is still in there, with all her other Canterlot friends.

"Withdraw all my credits from my account." the unicorn said, determination rooted in her heart. "I'm not leaving my friends to die."

"But miss-"

"Hurry up. We won't have much time." Vinyl Scratch said. Octavia didn't leave her when she was bleeding to death. Then she won't leave her, either. "Get me my plane. I'm going into Equestria."

> Chapter 11: Two Hunters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow intentionally let a science marine live. Right now, she held his weapon in one hoof while she gripped her cleaver tightly in the other. The stallion was on the ground, too scared to move. Rainbow simply stared into his eyes, planting the fear even further in.

"Where is your base of operations?" she roared, and the stallion flinched, but didn't give way.

"No luck here, lady. The science faction is doing the right thing- it's making the world a better place." the stallion said, his mane matted with dirt and grime.

Rainbow pointed the tip of the cleaver at his throat, and he gulped.

"Still a no." he said through gritted teeth.

Rainbow sighed, and stomped down on the stallion's ankle, and she could feel the bones disconnect under her hoof. The stallion screamed, clutching his leg, cursing.

Rainbow moved the tip of the blade back under his chin.

"So what? You're going to torture me?" 

"Yes. And I'm going to skin you alive after you run out of bones to break. Or I'll just get straight to it if you annoy me too much." Rainbow said.

"You are one big mother bu- AH!" he screamed as Rainbow stomped on his injury.

"We ain't got all day." Rainbow said. "Although it'll feel like it when I start skinning you. Answer my question."

"No." the stallion said, although the uncertainty on his face gave him away. Rainbow stomped on his ankle again, and this time the skin around it ruptured and blood poured onto the floor. Rainbow stood silently, waiting for the screaming to stop.

"Ok! Gah- damnit." the stallion ground his teeth together. "X89 and Y74. Can you leave me alone now?"

"On the ground or in the air?" 

"On the ground!"

"Yeah right." Rainbow smirked. "Why wouldn't it be on the barricade?"

"It'll take..." the stallion was breathing pretty heavy. Not surprising since he had a messed up ankle. And a shot through his chest. "Too damn long... Wasn't enough time to move it to the barricade... Not enough resources to keep the cabin pressurized... Also because ponies wouldn't think it's on the ground... AH!" he yelled as a piece of paper fluttered out of no-where and touched his bleeding and exposed flesh.

"What do they use the center for? Other than commanding?"

"They control the jet fighters and turrets... And and and the barricade! They control the barricade!" 

"So, nopony is on the barricade other than deploying troops?"

"Yes! Yes!"

"On the ground. Controls basically everything. K then. And if you lied, I'll hunt you down." Rainbow said, then stomped on his ankle for the fourth time. She then walked away, leaving the stallion with his pains.

"What was that... Gah! For..." the weak voice asked behind her.

"You wasted my time." Rainbow randomly whipped out an excuse from the top of her head, and activated the mic. "Octavia- can you see what is at X89 Y74?" 

"Hold on... I'll have a look." Octavia's voice said. "Found it... It's an old mining plant roughly thirty miles from your location."

"Think you can pick me up?" Rainbow asked.

"Sure, I'll pick you up right here." Octavia said.

"Fine." Rainbow growled, stretched her wings, folded her cleaver, and took off. 

*

"Magnum? Head to X60 Y45. We're gonna pick you up there, got a little side mission we need you on." Octavia said, Rainbow in the seat next to her while she drove over the debris.

"You do understand that I'm in heaven right now, and that I don't really want to go anywhere else?" Magnum said through the mic.

"Heaven?" Rainbow asked incredulously. 

"Yeah. Infinite live target practice. Well, until I run out on ammo, but I've got about seven crates next to me." Magnum said, followed by a loud bang.

"Just meet us there." Rainbow growled.

"Do you have your seatbelt on?" Octavia asked. 

"No." Rainbow said.

"Too late." Octavia said, not releasing her hoof from the accelerator. The car drove onto the belly of flipped aircraft, and with a loud thud and a surprised yelp from Rainbow it rode up the metal platings. Acting as a ramp, the aircraft launched them into the air. 

Rainbow hit her head on the air conditioner when the car landed with a crash.

"I've always wanted to do that." Octavia said sheepishly.

"Really? Out of all the stunts we perform you want to drive off a ramp?" Rainbow batted away the stars circling around her head. Octavia shrugged.

"There she is." Octavia said as she spotted Magnum at a fortified position with a squad of royal military, surprised that she actually did have seven crates full of ammo.

"Get in!" Rainbow leaned out of the window and tapped the door with her hoof.

"You just have to ruin the fun." Magnum slung her rifle across her back and dived into the car.

"Don't mind if we tag along." Halcyon grinned, getting in- followed by Blaze.

"Wait... What are you guys doing here?" Rainbow raised a frowning eyebrow. 

"Let's just say if you let us tag along we'll give you the honor of helping the military." Halcyon said.

"Buckle in then." Rainbow said glumly, turning away from a cheering Halcyon and Blaze.

"Oh goody- another ramp!" Octavia said.

"Wait, what?" Blaze asked, despite the three clicks that went off as Rainbow, Halcyon and Magnum clicked their seat belts.

The car flew over the roof of a house, somehow blown off. It was at a much steeper angle. Unexpected to Octavia, the car began tipping dangerously forward- and at this rate, they'll nose dive into the debris.

Octavia quickly messed with the knobs on the side of the steering wheel, and flicked the switch.

Blaze slammed against the back of Rainbow's seat as gravity suddenly tugged them all forward, the car falling parallel to the ground. It still had its momentum, so it performed a full front flip. Octavia quickly switched the direction of gravity, and the car landed on its wheels, still racing forward. Somehow Blaze ended up upside down in his seat, cursing.

Halcyon face-hoofed.

"Quick thinking." Rainbow patted Octavia on the back.

"Thanks." 

Blaze quickly got upright, and tightened his seatbelt.

"What are we doing again? What's the plan?" Halcyon asked.

"We're taking down the head of operations. And the plan is, plow through the front door and then improvise." Rainbow said, fetching her coat and hat from a small compartment underneath the air conditioner. 

"Sounds reassuring." Halcyon said.

"We're not particularly good at making ponies feel good." Octavia said glumly, yanking the steering wheel to avoid a missile.

"Ha! That's what she-" Halcyon clipped Blaze on the back of his head before he could finish.

"Just a few miles left. Are we going to drive the car into the damn building?" Octavia asked.

"If you can find a wide enough window." Rainbow said.

"Wait- that isn't the most tactical decision. I recommend we sneak in, shut down the system and all." Halcyon suggested.

"That ain't cool enough." Rainbow grinned. "We don't usually do things tactically."

"It's about thirty seconds away. Do we have an agreement? Because I can see a really wide window right there." Octavia said.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Halcyon gulped, clutching her rifle.

"Don't worry. Just get used to it like we did." Rainbow said.

"Just don't overshoot and hit the frame." Magnum jutted in.

"Too late." Octavia let go of the steering wheel and covered her head. 

The car hit a hill and flew through the air. Octavia mistimed it a little, and the top framing of the window scraped the roof of the car clean off as the car broke the glass and crashed into a room.

Rainbow ripped her seatbelt away, and stood up. She coughed at the smoke, waving a hoof; then stopped when she noticed the room of eyes staring at her. The car had crashed into a large control room lined with rows and rows of computers, ponies behind them controlling different functions of the barricade. 

"Uh..." she said, then ducked down when she spotted one of the ponies stand up and point a pistol at her. The bullet hit the side of the car but didn't puncture.

"Good going." Halcyon said, ducking down below the door and flinching when a bullet went past her head. "Go through a window. That worked perfectly well."

Now they were being showered with bullets as angry science faction controllers opened fire on them.
"It was awesome though, wasn't it?" Rainbow tried to lighten up the mood.

"Buck this." Octavia slammed a switch. There was the distinct whining of motors as the turret popped up, the gatling gun whirring. 

There were a lot of surprised and horrified yelps as the gun let loose, a constant buzzing, the blasts too close together to tell apart.

"You never told me you had one of these babies in your car!" Magnum yelled angrily over the gatling gun.

The gun stopped, the barrels slowing to a halt as it found no more viable targets.

Rainbow peeked over the edge of the door, scanning the coast.

"Area clear." she said.

"Let's go then." Octavia yanked an old dusty case from the trunk.

"Why, do you have your cello?" Rainbow asked.

"That's not what's inside." Octavia said, pocketing a pistol and walking towards the only intact monitor in the room- the others were all shattered and in pieces. 

"Expect an army. They know we're here, so they'll probably send everything they have at us to retake this location." Rainbow said, patting her leg and making sure the capsule was in her pocket. "Magnum, plow your way to the roof. Take out anypony that comes our way. You two, with me." 

"Got it." Magnum said, loading her rifle and running out the door.

"I'll need some time to cripple the system." Octavia said, concentrating on the monitor.

"Really? What do you have to do?" Halcyon asked.

"Take down the AI so nothing is automatic and has to be manually controlled, destroy the programming that auto-restarts the system once I turn it off, make sure that the barricade stays in the sky so we don't get crushed, then disable the system."

"I'll leave you to that then." Halcyon was barely listening. 

"Meet us... Wherever we tell you to meet us when you're done." Rainbow said, unfolding her cleaver.

"Ok." Octavia said without taking her eyes away from the screen. The turret should provide enough cover if any enemies come in.

"Shining Armor?" Rainbow spoke into the mic. "Can you get Luna to lower the moon right now? We need a bit of cover from the night." 

"Eh.. I'll speak to her." Shining Armor replied, and Rainbow tapped her sword impatiently as Shining Armor went to speak with the princess of the night.

"Right now?" he asked.

"Yes." Rainbow said.

"Right. And... That should do it." 

"Say thanks to Luna for me." Rainbow said as the room dimmed significantly, and would've been completely dark for it not the lights.

Suddenly a loud siren went off, and yelling could be heard throughout the mining facility.
"There it is. I was wondering when they'd notice." Blaze said.

"Come on! Move!" Rainbow yelled, darting for the exit, followed by the two royal marines. 

They were met with a team of surprised science faction ponies round the corner, and Rainbow had already run her blade through a dozen of them before they reacted and opened fire. They were in a narrow hallway, and the science ponies had nowhere to run. 

Blaze darted forward, keeping low and letting the bullets whiz over his head. He lashed out a kick at the knee area of the first stallion he came into contact with, and sent a bullet into his head as he hunched over. Halcyon dashed past him, her rifle ablaze. 

A stallion with a knife charged out of nowhere, lunging at Halcyon. She blocked his wrist with her rifle, the knife inches away from her face. She spun, flinging the stallion behind her, bringing the rifle up and firing a critical shot.

Rainbow sunk her cleaver through a guard, and kicked another science marine in the guts. Ripping the blade out, she swung it in a wide arch and decapitated the guard she kicked. 

Blaze shot a science marine in the knee, slammed his rifle stock into his stomach, then cracked the marine's head against the wall by smashing a hoof into his face. The trooper fell onto the floor and didn't get back up. 

Halcyon backed up against Blaze, standing back to back as they heard more science faction troops coming down the hallway. Halcyon nodded, and Blaze pulled the pin of a grenade, throwing the more dangerous part down the dark hallway. Suddenly the hallway was lit up by a violent explosion, bits of science flying everywhere. They didn't even get the chance to scream. There were more that survived the blast, and Rainbow moved forward to finish them off. 

They ran through the hallway, the siren making them slightly dizzy.

Kicking down a metal door, Rainbow came into a large open area. It was basically a huge crater in the ground, the sides covered in blue sapphires. Miners, however; were nowhere to be seen. Levels of metal walkways lined the sides, the occasional manual turret mounted on the handrails. They were on the top set, and had to somehow get down in order to get to the doors at the bottom. There was a big red light high above, flashing continuously with the siren.

"There they are!" somepony shouted, and then there were muzzle flares flashing in the shadows as science ponies emerged from doors, shooting at them.

Rainbow leaped over the handrails, her wings spreading. She flew up into the air, then came back down again. Same old trick, works every time.

She slammed into the ground, a rainbow colored shockwave exploding outwards as she impacted the rock floor. In the dark, not only were the ponies blinded, the walkways also took a beating. 

The first level of walkways collapsed, spilling the science marines onto the floor and crushing the ones underneath. Rainbow was already slicing at them with her cleaver before they recovered. 

Halcyon swung down onto the second level of catwalks, sending a bullet into a science marine's chest. He fell over the handrails and slammed onto the floor. 

There were more of the science faction ponies pouring into the huge crater. Rainbow realized it was a kill zone, as they would have to fight a near infinite supply of troops. 

"Clear a path to that exit!" Rainbow slashed a stallion in half, before pointing at a door in the side of the mine.

"Will do." Halcyon threw a grenade into that entrance, and a few marines flew out as the explosive went off. 

Rainbow leaped at a stallion, kicking both hooves into his chest and sending him flying backwards. She backflipped and landed, then flew over a science marine that was just about to take aim. Temporarily losing his target, the marine looked around for the blue pegasus. He turned around and met Rainbow's cleaver straight away.

Suddenly all the enemy troops dived down as a huge explosion took them off their hooves. There was smoke everywhere, but Rainbow could still see the big hole in one of the walls, and the dark figure standing behind it.

Octavia walked through the smoke, her mane flowing in the breeze and her cello case tightly gripped in one hoof.

"You two!" Rainbow yelled at Blaze and Halcyon. "Head for that entrance there! Clear all the rooms along the way!"

"Moving!" Blaze swung down onto the walkway below, following Halcyon as they fought their way towards the entrance.

"Shining Armor! The barricade is down! I repeat- the barricade is down! Well, still in the air, but disabled! Send in our air force and shut off their reinforcements!" Octavia dropped her cello case on the ground, and it opened. A tommy gun sprang out and landed in her waiting hooves.

"Thanks for the heads up! You all have done a great part in this short battle!" Shining Armor said. 

"Come on Rainbow!" Octavia yelled, her rifle ablaze. "We need to catch the head of operations!" 

"How?" Rainbow rolled sideways to avoid a stream of bullets. "There's too many of them!" 

"Just head for the entrance!" Octavia said, her left hoof moving to her coat pocket.

There was a loud beep among the chaos.

"Was that... Our car?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

An explosion ripped through the side of the mine as the roofless black car drove into the battle, its turret ablaze and rockets soaring. 

"Yep." Octavia said. "RUN!" she slung the tommy gun across her back, and pushed Rainbow into the entrance. They tumbled onto the floor, and with another beep the car fired a rocket at the entrance they were in. Debris fell, blocking the exit so the enemies couldn't get in.

"Come on." Octavia ran down the hallway.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Rainbow asked as they ran.

"I had time to study the layout." Octavia said. 

There was a metal double door up ahead that looked like it would lead to some sort of outdoors area. 

"There's a big clearing behind the door. Be prepared for anything." Octavia said, and Rainbow kicked down the doors.

They both dived for cover as two mini-gun turrets swiveled around at them and let loose their ammo. There were two towers high above the clearing on the other side, twin snipers on both with spotlights searching for the two bounty hunters. 

"Magnum! Can you see two sniper towers from the roof?" Rainbow asked, her voice a little quiet compared to the roaring of the turrets. 

"Yeah. Taking em out now." Magnum said.

A moment later the spotlights shattered, and the two towers went dead.

"Good job! I think the two royal marines might need your help in the mines. There's a buck load of targets there!" Rainbow said.

"Heading over." Magnum said, and Rainbow heard the some-what disturbing enthusiasm in her voice.

"How do you propose we handle the turrets?" Octavia asked.

"You got frags?" 

"Nope." 

"That sucks."

"Indeed." Octavia sighed.

Rainbow dared a peak, and ducked down again as a stream of bullets almost hit her hat. The turrets were guarding the entrance of some large building, similar to the warehouse. 

"Shuck. We'll have to move." Octavia said as more spotlights shone over the clearing- more enemy snipers were on the roof of the building.

"Run to the cover over there-" Rainbow pointed at a large cargo container obviously full with sapphire. "On my mark?" 

Octavia nodded.

"Three... Two... One-" Rainbow brought her cleaver up to shield against some of the bullets as both turrets and snipers opened fire. The snipers were using armor piercing rounds, and they burned through the air, leaving smoky trails behind them.

Octavia pulled out her tommy gun, opening fire on one of the turrets. The bullets struck, severing wires and disabling the turret. Its rotating barrels slowed to a stop, the electronics fizzing and sparking out.

Rainbow dived behind the cargo container, and Octavia was there beside her a second later, both mares breathing hard. Rainbow looked at her sword- none of the rounds even made a dent, only a few burn marks that she wiped away with her sleeve.

"I took out one of the turrets." Octavia said.

"One more then- it can't target the both of us. Take down the turret and I can fly over to the snipers." Rainbow said. 

"I'll take the turret then. You cast a distraction?" Octavia reloaded her gun.

"Fair enough." Rainbow threw her cleaver out from behind cover. It spun through the air, and as expected the turret began tracking it. Octavia emerged from behind cover, taking out the turret while Rainbow darted for her cleaver.

She spread her wings, arching up as she grabbed hold of the cleaver handle. She curved out and into the air, pulling the cleaver with her. Abruptly changing direction, she flew straight for the snipers. 

Octavia dashed forward, heading for the building, where the snipers won't be able to get her. Sliding down next to the wall, she fired a few shots up at the snipers above.

Rainbow kicked a sniper off the edge, while throwing the cleaver into a different one. The sniper got impaled into the ground as the cleaver slid through and lodged itself into the roof. Rainbow yanked the blade out, kicked a rifle away from a stallion, then shoved him off the edge as well. Three to go.

Rainbow deflected a bullet with her cleaver, then brought it back around and sliced the barrel of the sniper's rifle clean off. He tried to fire again out of panic, and a shattered bullet came out, the pieces acting as shotgun pellets and hitting his unfortunate partner in the chest. She grabbed the rifle from the side, and shoved it violently into the sniper's jaw, dislocating it. She then sliced her cleaver through his heart, letting him crumble onto the roof. The last stallion charged desperately at her with a long knife. She diverted the strike, then swung him off the roof. His screams abruptly ended with a sickening crack.

Rainbow dropped down from the roof, her wings slowing her descent and making it a lot more comfortable. 

"This should be the main control room where all the orders are given." Octavia nodded to the building, its huge metal main gates looming over them.

"Alright. See if you can find our synthetic voiced friend in there." Rainbow said, slicing a hole in the inch thick metal and kicking the resulting plate into the building. She jumped through, but was surprised and tackled from the side by a science marine. Her cleaver slid out of reach.

As she tumbled onto the floor, she watched Octavia as she was beaten to the ground by a crimson red stallion, who put a bullet in her chest a second later.

> Chapter 12: As the Music Fades
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many years ago, Canterlot hospital.


Vinyl Scratch opened her eyes, the pain in her shoulder still present. 

"She's awake- nurse!" Octavia was sitting next to her, a worried expression on her face.

"Ah. Vinyl, my dear- my, you were one of the lucky ones to survive that attack." the nurse said, opening a small canister labeled 'pain killers'.

Vinyl turned away, closing her eyes again and frowning uncontrollably at the pain. She felt Octavia lay a gentle hoof on her good shoulder.

"Thanks Octavia. You really stood with me till the end there." Vinyl said, not letting Octavia see her face as it might make her look insincere. The pain was really bad, with the treatment and all; and she really couldn't keep a straight face, let alone force a smile.

"I did what I could. But it wasn't enough, was it?" Octavia said, her hoof retreating from Vinyl's good shoulder. 

"No. You did enough. I'm just glad you were there when I was bleeding the crap outta myself." Vinyl groaned as a sharp wave of pain spread down her arm. 

"Dear, take some of these pain killers. The first half an hour will be a little worse, but then you won't be able to feel a thing for the next few." the nurse said, handing Vinyl some pills that looked suspiciously like candy. She gulped them down without any water, grinding her teeth at the bitter taste. 

"What are you going to do?" Octavia asked Vinyl after a long period of silence, after the nurse went outside.

"I'm leaving. Buck Equestria- this land is rotten. Never heard of any other countries having random gun ponies shooting the crap out of others." Vinyl growled, her anger rising with the pain.

"Oh, come on, Vinyl... You can't leave!" Octavia was genuinely concerned now. The event may have traumatized her friend worse than it did to her- after all, Vinyl was the one who got shot and almost had her arm torn off as a result.

"Octavia, I'm really going to miss this place. I know it. But I can't live here anymore without looking behind my back every second." Vinyl sighed.

"But-"

"Tell me- what are you going to do?" 

"I'm... I'm going to make things right. This type of thing should've never happened." 
Octavia said finally. "I'm not going to run away."

"I'm not running away!" Vinyl raised her voice by the slightest.

"You know, after much thinking- this world really isn't a perfect place. It never was, and we never realized it back then. The dark side was here all along, so why can't you accept it?"

"I choose not to." Vinyl said.

Octavia was silent for a few moments. "Fine. Leave. Enjoy your new life." Octavia stood up, wiping a tear from her face. 

"What about you? Are you just going to join the army, or something?" Vinyl didn't turn to face Octavia, but Octavia had her back to her anyway.

"No. I'll go beyond that." Octavia said, pushing the door open.

"Good luck." Vinyl said.

"Save it for yourself, you'll need it." Octavia said to her old friend, and left- though she wasn't nearly as assertive and confident about the future as she made herself sound.

*

Present day, mining plant.


Rainbow stared in shock as a darker patch spread over Octavia's chest. She turned her head to face the stallion holding her at gun point, staring down the barrel. Shock slowly turned into anger, and she kicked the gun aside, the fired bullet burying itself into the ground. 

She sprung up to her hooves and yanked the rifle away from the marine. Tripping him up, she slammed the wooden stock of the rifle down onto his head, cracking his skull and sending blood splattering across the floor. But she didn't stop there.

She hit him again, despite him being dead. Again and again. Over and over. Until the stallion barely had a face left, the skull completely shattered and parts of his brain spilling out of his scalp. 

She looked up at the crimson red stallion that shot Octavia, her eyes wild and a small splatter of the stallion's blood sliding down her left cheek. The crimson red stallion seemed to have some sort of device attached to his neck- it was the stallion with the synthesized voice- the leader.

He pointed the gun at her, and she flung the rifle at him. The two guns made contact, and the flying rifle knocked the pistol out of his hoof. 

Screw the cleaver, Rainbow thought; and darted forward before any of the guns even made contact with the ground. 

She swung a punch from the right into the stallion's side, making him double over. She grabbed hold of his mane, then yanked it so he fell onto the ground. She stomped on his knee, shattering the bone. She then lashed out with a kick into his throat, shattering the voice synthesizer and embedding the metal shards into his neck. He scrambled to his hooves, a shocked expression on his face. Rainbow ran behind him, grabbed his arm and thumped him onto the floor, his head cracking against the concrete. She continued twisting his arm, until the bone snapped and it flopped uselessly onto the ground. She grabbed the collar of his coat, and threw him across the room and into a wall. She stormed towards his fallen form on the other side of the room, continuing the rampage.

Rainbow dug a hoof under his chin, and shoved him into the wall, his hooves leaving the ground. Cracks burst across the surface paint from the impact. She then propped him up against the cold metal, and landed a series of punches into his stomach; not even giving him a chance to breath. She then finished him off with a kick into his chest, her hoof puncturing his skin. She felt her hoof crunch against his ribcage and squash his vital organs. She backed away, letting his body fall to the floor, his eyes rolling back into his head.

Rainbow was breathing hard, the cold night air displaying her breath in the form of steam as she huffed and puffed. She looked down at her clothes. They were soaked in blood, and so were her hooves. She wiped the blood from her face with a dirty sleeve, leaving a dark red smudge there. Her anger immediately dispersed as she remembered why she was angry.

She quickly ran to Octavia's side, kneeling down. Rainbow was panicking, watching the dark patch of blood spread over Octavia's clothes. 

"Octavia..." Rainbow said, feeling a swell of emotions inside her, also pushing tears into her eyes.

"Oh, hey Rainbow..." Octavia said weakly. Her hat had fallen off, lying on its side next to her. Her mane still had its flowing texture, spread across the floor. Her arms lay by her side, and her face was a pale shade of gray.

Rainbow sniffed.

"Come on... You can't die here. You still have so much to do! We still have so much to do..."

Octavia knew what Rainbow meant. Becoming bounty hunters, they also became friends. But they never got the chance to do anything, have any fun, that normal friends would have. Circle the 'normal', it's important.

"I'm so sorry..." Octavia said, her voice weak. "I'm such a terrible friend to have..."

"Oh, come on. You're not. You're the best I've ever had." Rainbow said, forcing a smile onto her face, the tears contradicting her attempted expression. 

"I'm really sorry I had to put you through this, then..." Octavia said, remembering Vinyl, bleeding in her arms. The hopeless feeling was the worst feeling she could've felt, worse than dying here herself. "I know what it's like. I became a bounty hunter so nopony else would have to go through it..." Octavia chuckled, smiling. "Although, it would seem I only caused more of it." 

"It's Ok." Rainbow said. "I know you've been worrying about others this whole time. But please, Octavia- for once, worry about yourself." she moved a strand of hair from her face.

"What more is there to worry about- after this, I'll just fade out... No more to worry about. That peace sounds really tempting right now." Octavia still kept her smile up.

Rainbow was sobbing uncontrollably now. Her friend for so many years, been through so many life and death situations- dying on the floor in front of her.

"I'm sorry- we didn't really have any time together. We were just pursuing our goals, losing sight of what it really meant to enjoy life. I'm sorry." Rainbow said, looking down.

"Come on... It wasn't all bad." Octavia said, her voice fading some-what quickly. "Remember when we blew up the oven?"

Rainbow nodded. 

"Who's idea was it again? C4 muffins?" Octavia asked rhetorically.

"Me." Rainbow smiled at the memory(see? the 'normal' IS important). They had returned to the apartment that night to find a missing kitchen, and multiple complaints from angry neighbors. That's why that street became so quiet- everypony else moved out.

"And the time you tried to dive straight into the water from the sky..." 

"...And ended up with a five-hundred meter belly-flop. Yes." Rainbow chuckled, although it only made her sadder as she watched Octavia.

"Oh yeah... And when I got drunk..." Octavia said, although her voice was just above a whisper.

"...Yeah... Did anyone ever try to ask you out again after that? I doubt they'd risk a few pulverized bones..." Rainbow said, the smile on her face genuine. And so were the tears.

"See... It wasn't all bad." Octavia said. 

Rainbow didn't reply. She just gave Octavia something she as a friend had never yet given her- she moved up to Octavia and gave her a big hug. She avoiding Octavia's bullet wound, squeezing her shoulders tight. This time she felt Octavia's tears dampen her collar.

"Rainbow... Please... Leave this- whatever the buck this is we're doing- when this is all over. We can't change anything- Equestria was like this the whole time. We just didn't notice. And if it faired fine all those years before we came, then it still can. Rainbow- live your life like you wanted to. Not like this. Please... Not like this." Octavia said, her voice slightly muffled as she buried her face in the blue pegasus's shoulder.

"I will. Once this is over- I will. I promise." Rainbow said. "I'm so sorry you couldn't do the same." she hugged Octavia tighter than ever.

"And I'm sorry you couldn't get the peace I will be getting." Octavia chuckled weakly, followed by a sob that she swallowed.

Rainbow finally let go, resting Octavia's head onto her leg; looking at her friend's face alive for the last few moments. She remembered when they blew up the oven. She remembered when she belly-flopped at near sonic speed into the water(and almost made the headlines via attempted suicide). She remembered Octavia beating up the stallion. All the memories- they were a weird pair of friends, true, but that didn't make the friendship any less real, any less strong. And now they were forced to break that bond. More importantly, she remembered when they were watching the sunrise in Cloudsdale. At that point, they finally both admitted the friendship that they put aside for so many years. 

"Rest, my friend." Rainbow stopped a tear from hitting Octavia. 

Octavia gave one last slow wink, then closed her eyes, a tear of mixed feelings leaking through her eyelids and a peaceful smile on her face. Rainbow realized- she did envy her peace. She held Octavia's hoof in hers, feeling her pulse, waiting as it slowed down; then finally stop. 

Now that Octavia left, Rainbow didn't feel the need to hold back any longer. She let the tears pour down her face, stream out of her eyes as she shook uncontrollably with each sob. Everything felt cold, despite her thick coat. Octavia had designed it. 

She pounded the floor again and again, eventually weakening into small taps on the concrete as she knelt beside her dead friend. She looked up from the ground, her vision blurry from crying. Octavia had that peaceful smile all the way till she died. 

"I'm glad you're happy." Rainbow fell back onto her flank, curling up. "I'm glad I didn't waste your life completely..." she whispered. She sobbed there for a few minutes, waiting for herself to regain control of her body as she hugged her knees. But every time she thought about Octavia, she couldn't help but have more tears come out. She tried to fight the surge of sadness, but failed. When she finally was able to stop, her eyes already hurt from crying so much and her face stung as the cold air brushed against her wet cheeks. And still she knew, she hadn't run out just yet.

"I promise I'll leave after this mess." She whispered. Standing up, wiping one last tear from her face and forcing herself to look away from her fallen friend; she slowly walked to her cleaver and picked it up from the ground. It felt oddly heavy right now, but then so did her heart. Heck, make that everything.

She looked down at its broad blade, the red crystal glimmering. It still glowed brightly- therefore so did her loyalty. As she watched the gem of the element of loyalty glimmer in its socket, she heard a loud crash somewhere outside the building.

Suddenly a small crack appeared in the wall, moonlight leaking in. There was another metallic clang and the crack was torn some more. Rainbow briefly spotted a black claw as it tore through the metal wall.

Whatever was outside kicked the wall, leaving a heavy dent. It lashed out again, growling and hissing this time, in a robotic manner. Then there were a series of attacks, the wall buckling and crumbling. Then with a final screeching noise, a black claw tore the metal apart.

A tall dark silhouette of a pony stood in the moonlight outside, specific features shielded by shadows. It stood on its hind legs, its arms dangling by its side, long claws reaching the floor. Glowing lines of multiple colors ran here and there on its body, casting a ghostly glow onto the floor around it. Its mane looked like it hadn't been brushed in a few years, and had been blown all over the place by the wind. It dangled around its face, which had two glowing blue lines leading from the cheeks to where the eyes should be.

And then it seemed to awaken. At first the eyes were just glowing slits on its face, but then widened into the largest eyes Rainbow had ever seen. They glowed white, without any specific features- just white. A blood-thirsty smile spread across its face as it spotted Rainbow, also glowing white.

They stared at each other. Rainbow coldly and without fear- and the other, some-what hard to tell but undoubtedly psychotic. 

Rainbow remembered Octavia's words- quit once you finish this mess. And that was exactly what she was going to do- take down this abomination of the science faction, and retire. 

Neon spread out her claws for Rainbow to see, the sharp blades catching the moonlight outside. She moved her arms to the side, a gesture of challenge. She grinned even wider at the thought of combat, and the fun she would have against that huge cleaver. The red crystal also looked pretty yummy- she'll study that later on, after she tears the blue pegasus in the coat and hat into bloody ribbons. She dropped her arms down beside her, letting her claws scrape against the floor as she walked towards the pegasus.

Rainbow's expression hardened, her purple eyes narrowing in determination. She also let her cleaver drag on the ground as she marched towards Neon, sending a myriad of sparks jumping and scattering over the floor. The sparks lit up a small area on the concrete, and cast a reflection in Rainbow's eyes that burned like her fury. 

The red crystal grew brighter as the two neared each other, both wanting to end this in their own ways.

Neon lifted her right claw from the ground, and darted forward at an amazing speed, the blades ready to tear through Rainbow.

Rainbow lifted her cleaver, raising it to her side and ready to swing it around at Neon.

They ran at each other at top speed, leaving nothing but disrupted air and dust in their wake.

Time to end this.

> Chapter 13: Lights Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neon brought her claw down on Rainbow when she came in range, expecting her claws to tear through the cleaver just like it did to so many other things. She was slightly annoyed when the cleaver held together with barely a scratch. 

Rainbow swung the blade around, striking Neon on the neck. She didn't think Neon's grin could spread wider than it already did, but it did anyway when the cleaver failed to cut her high-tech armor. In fact, there wasn't even a scratch. Rainbow quickly moved the blade into a defensive position as Neon clawed at her.

Sparks flew as the blades made contact. Rainbow spun the cleaver, twisting Neon's claws away and exposing her body. She jabbed forward, but Neon was faster and dodged the strike.  

Then it was just a series of blindingly fast parries and blocks. Flashes and clangs, too close together to be told apart. 

Rainbow brought the blade around in a wide arch. Neon used her claws in a specific manner, and twisted the cleaver from Rainbow's hooves. It spun through the air, and lodged itself high up on a metal wall, the broad side facing the ceiling.

Rainbow cursed, and was forced to roll sideways to avoid Neon's slashing claws. She jumped to her hooves, stopping Neon's claws from reaching her by grabbing hold of her wrist. Neon brought her other claw around, and Rainbow swung over it, using Neon's arm to launch herself up into the air. She dropped down, a punch prepared.

Neon lashed out, and Rainbow grabbed her wrist again, bringing her arm down to her side so the claws couldn't harm her. She closed a hoof around her other wrist, and lashed out a kick into Neon's chest, causing her to stumble back. Rainbow herself was launched back into the air, stretching her wings. She flew up to her cleaver, and landed on it.

Neon cocked her head to one side, looking up and studying the pegasus. 

Rainbow grabbed the handle and front-flipped, yanking the cleaver out. She let go, flinging the hunk of metal at near sonic speed down at Neon. 

Neon quickly jumped back, the cleaver hitting the ground and shattering the concrete, the barest hint of a rainbow still fading into the air. 

Rainbow flew down from the above. Using the cleaver as a pole, she grabbed hold of the handle and swung herself around, lashing out a sonic-speed kick at Neon. Her hoof made contact with the back of Neon's claws, forcing her to take several steps back. Rainbow landed on the ground, yanked the cleaver out and brought it down in a wide arch. Neon crossed her claws, intercepting the cleaver.

Rainbow spun, pulling the blade away and then bringing it back from the side. Neon jumped over it, slashing a claw down at Rainbow.

Rainbow rolled forward, the slash missing her hat, but barely. Standing up as fast as she could, she brought the blade up in a huge uppercut. Neon blocked it with a claw, then pushed.

The cleaver flew from Rainbow's grip once again, but she didn't lose it. She cartwheeled backwards, catching the cleaver between her back hooves. Mustering all the energy she could get from her waist, she swung it back down. 

Neon jumped back as the cleaver lodged itself into the ground, breaking concrete. Rainbow flipped again, pulling out the cleaver with her back hooves and flinging it up into the air. 

Neon darted forward, ready to slice Rainbow in half. The cleaver fell back down and into Rainbow's front hooves, and she blocked the strike in the nick of time.

Neon lashed out from the side, and Rainbow brought the blade up to block it. Neon moved up, and they were nose to nose for a second, staring into each other's eyes with cold determination, although it was a little harder to tell with Neon's. 

Rainbow suddenly backed out of the way, and Neon lost her balance, stumbling forward and exposing her back. Rainbow swung the cleaver down, but Neon knocked it away by kicking the broad side. She rolled onto the ground to add more distance between her and Rainbow, but also to stop herself from falling over.

She spun around, her claws slicing through the air. Rainbow leaped up and over the swipe, rolling in the air with her cleaver spinning with her. Neon blocked it, throwing Rainbow off-balance as she abruptly lost her momentum. She landed behind Neon, creating a small dust cloud.

She leaped up, the cleaver raised high. Neon only had enough time to spin around and meet it with her claws. 

Rainbow brought the cleaver down with all her strength, and the blades clashed with a heavy metallic clang. The strike was so powerful that the ground around Neon's hooves cracked. Dust flew away from the two, settling somewhere else. Neon didn't seem to be harmed at all.

Rainbow backed away, and Neon dashed forward, bringing a claw around for a strike. Rainbow tilted her cleaver vertical, blocking the blow. Neon twirled around, hunching low, her right leg sweeping across the floor.

Rainbow was knocked off the floor, her hooves swept from underneath her. She hit the ground hard on her back, the air temporarily knocked from her lungs. Without waiting to catch her breath, she rolled to her side and onto her belly, Neon's claws digging into the concrete where she had been seconds before. 

Pushing off with her front hooves, she launched both back hooves into Neon's chest apple-buck fashion, sending her stumbling back. Rainbow landed lightly on her hooves, spinning around to face her opponent. 

Neon grinned. This was proving to be much more fun than she anticipated.

Rainbow charged forth, the cleaver down low by her side. She swiped up when Neon was in range. Claw and cleaver clashed, showering the owners with sparks that lit up the battle. Sliding the blade up and along Neon's claws, Rainbow used the cleaver's momentum- twirling it in her hooves and spinning at the same time. She stabbed behind her, the cleaver at waist height. Neon diverted the thrust somewhere else with her claws.

Rainbow turned the blade so the sharp edge that faced down earlier faced Neon. She shoved the cleaver sideways, knocking Neon back- but she still blocked it. Rainbow quickly flew away from Neon- time to use the one signature trick she didn't think she'd come to use.

She landed on the concrete meters away from Neon, and tightened her grip on the cleaver.

Rainbow swung it around in a wide arch as fast as she could, despite Neon being five meters away. The air around the blue pegasus rippled, a shockwave forming at the tip of the cleaver.

And then everything exploded into a rainbow colored bubble as the cleaver broke the sound barrier, exploding outwards in a huge multicolored flash.

Neon had a surprised expression on her face as the bubble struck her full on. She flew back, tumbling through the air and down the length of the large room- which was roughly thirty meters long. 

There was a loud crack and clang as Neon crashed through the wall on the other side, taking a huge sheet of the metal with her.   

Rainbow kept her cleaver right beside her as she walked towards the big hole in the wall, white moonlight pouring in. She reached an edge. The building seemed to be high up over something- down below was a mess of metal pipes and tubes. It was the kind of stuff you'd expect to find in oil rigs. The tubes and pipes slithered all over the area, some leaking white hot steam into the cold night air. Then there was the obvious trail of destruction Neon left behind when she crashed through the wall and into all the pipes.

Rainbow's ear twitched under her hat, hearing a noise. She turned around, bringing the cleaver up and meeting Neon's claws as she dropped from the ceiling. They fell through the air, still slashing at each other. 

Neon broke away, landing and balancing on a wide pipe. Rainbow landed nearby on the same one. Neon charged, claws clinking against each other. Rainbow turned her cleaver so the broad side faced Neon, and blocked the strike with the broad side of the blade. 

Rainbow let go, but before the blade or Neon could fall lashed out a kick into the flat side of the cleaver. The force of the kick traveled through the cleaver and into Neon, knocking her back and sending her flying. Dust shuddered off the pipe as the power from the impact rippled down its length. The cleaver stood where it was, and fell into Rainbow's waiting hooves. 

Neon had landed on a different pipe. Rainbow flew over, bringing the cleaver down. Neon caught the cleaver between her claws, and twisted; flinging Rainbow away from the pipe and onto another series of them. She then jumped after her. 

She slashed sideways, and Rainbow ducked under it. Her claws ripped through the side of a vertical pipe behind Rainbow, and white hot steam poured out. Neon was temporarily distracted, and Rainbow leaped forward and under the steam, tackling Neon's legs.  

Neon fell forwards, her head clipping the metal pipe with a loud clang. Rainbow still didn't let go of her ankles, and spun Neon- ready to fling her away.

Neon dug her claws into a pipe, anchoring herself firmly. She then twisted her waist, flinging Rainbow instead out into the moonlight. She pulled her claws out, the steam not even causing her to flinch.

Rainbow crashed through an old rusted pipe, the metal chipping away and flying out with her. She spread her wings, flying up into the air. 

Then there was a multicolored flash, and she was crashing through the air again. Neon had leapt out and tackled her. 

Rainbow grabbed Neon's neck, spinning as to keep her opponent at the bottom. Neon did the same, trying to get Rainbow to hit the ground first. They spun through the air, each attempting to gain the advantage. 

They crashed through a series of pipes, and both landed and cracked their shoulders against the concrete underneath; breaking them apart. 

Neon rolled to her hooves, apparently unharmed.

Rainbow however, had blood seeping out of her lips and a dislocated shoulder. She picked up her cleaver slowly, not taking her eyes off Neon. She stabbed the cleaver into the ground, the handle within easy reach. Shaking on a mischievous smile, she hit her dislocated shoulder, forcing it back into place. She didn't groan with pain this time. Wiping the dribble of blood from the corner of her mouth, she pulled her cleaver from the ground.

Neon inclined her head, then darted forward, slashing downwards. Rainbow dodged to the side, and stabbed at Neon. 

Neon diverted the stab behind her, and leaped up. Rainbow brought her cleaver over her head, using the broad side to protect herself as Neon kicked down. 

Neon then jumped up from the cleaver, bringing an arm behind her ready to strike. Rainbow quickly rolled to the side as Neon's claws dug into the concrete, sending cracks scattering across the smooth surface and little pieces of rock jumping away.

Taking this chance, Rainbow slashed from the right at Neon, who used her spare claw and blocked the attack. Rainbow twirled, her coat fanning out as she spun, lashing out a roundhouse kick.

Her hoof connected with Neon's jaw, freeing Neon but also sending her tumbling across the floor for five meters. Sparks flew as she scraped along the floor like a metal statue. She slowly got up, her jaw at an odd angle. She wrenched it back into place with a loud crack; the ghostly grin appearing once again.

Why won't this thing just die? Rainbow thought. 

Neon charged forth, aiming a claw from the side at Rainbow's waist. Rainbow blocked it, but the strike also forced the broad side of the cleaver against her hip, limiting her moving space. She saw Neon's other claw ready to strike her exposed side, so quickly stuck her cleaver into the ground and swung over it. Neon's claw missed and hit the cleaver instead. 

Rainbow wrenched the cleaver from the ground, swinging it in an arch. 

Neon still hadn't recovered yet, and the cleaver hit her square on the shoulder. The razor sharp blade once again failed to cut through the armor, but the force was still present. 

Neon was knocked sideways, slamming through a metal pipe. Steam poured out, and Rainbow could feel the heat of it from here. Right now she was just fighting her opponent for the sake of it- she'll figure out a way to kill her later. 

Neon jumped through the steam cloud, landing heavily on the concrete. She ran towards Rainbow, who had her cleaver waiting.

Rainbow slashed down, and felt the cleaver impact Neon's claws. Neon grabbed hold, and yanked it away from Rainbow's hooves, tossing it somewhere else and out of sight.

She slashed down, and Rainbow could only dodge to the side. No more blocking without her cleaver. 

Grabbing Neon's outstretched arm, she spun and wrapped it around herself; effectively disabling the claw as well. She aimed an elbow at Neon's face, who tilted her head to the side and avoided the elbow.

Rainbow didn't take her arm back, she just flicked it to the side and into Neon's head. She forced Neon into an arm lock, her right hoof tugging on her arm while her left elbow pressed against her face. She thumped Neon to the ground, pulling on her arm- seeing just what it takes to break this thing. 

Neon was surprisingly strong though, and pushed Rainbow onto the ground as she rolled. She didn't seem to feel pain at all- no wonder the armlock didn't do anything. 

Grabbing Rainbow's collar, she threw the pegasus up and away. Rainbow's wings stretched out as she soared through the night sky, then curved back and dived down. The normal air disruption appeared around her as she approached sonic speed, then-
Neon had leaped up from the ground, and met Rainbow head on before she could create a sonic-rainboom. Despite this, the force was still tremendous and Neon was knocked back towards the floor. Rainbow had lost her balance and control, falling towards the ground at near sonic speed without being able to land properly. 

Neon slammed down into the floor, creating a crater as she crashed through the concrete. Rainbow plowed through several pipes before landing hard on her back, every cubic micrometer of air gone from her lungs. Her mouth opened in an empty gesture for air, but her lungs couldn't draw any in. Some of her ribs have snapped, and she could feel one in particular jutting out her side. Finally her lungs got the cue to wake up and start working again, and she gulped down mouthfuls of cold night air. 

Rainbow tried to get to her hooves, but fell back down again as her legs gave way. She knelt on the ground, defeated; clutching her side. Each breath stung and sent a wave of pain through her body, forcing her to flinch.

Neon's claws reached up from inside the crater she was in, took hold of the sides, and pulled herself out- pieces of concrete and dust sliding off her hunched back as she rose. She slowly turned her head to face rainbow, the grin gone, the mouth invisible as it was closed.

Rainbow's hat fell off her head, and thudded lightly onto the ground. Her rainbow mane drifted down, wavering gently in the night air. She had her left eye closed, as an injury on her head had blood pouring down into it. Her irregular breaths puffed out as steam in the cold air. Her coat was torn in several places, and her one-kneed kneeling position generally added to her defeated look. She hated failure, but she couldn't do anything about it right now but clench her jaw.

Suddenly Neon's eyes widened as she saw Rainbow's mane, then she fell to her knees, clutching her head in extreme pain and agony. Melony was fighting her way through, and it was evident in Neon's voice as she screamed- it was constantly switching between the robotic tone and Melony's normal voice.

Neon roared, pounding the floor. Rainbow watched, defeat turning to uncertainty. 

The ghostly white light from Neon's right eye started fading away, revealing a normal eye underneath: a beautiful golden iris was staring back at Rainbow. 

Melony's right eye. 

The black armor around her right eye began breaking apart into pixels, revealing the light aqua skin underneath. The armor continued slowly breaking away, the pixels drifting into the cold night air and fading. The black armor retreated from Melony's mane, revealing the blonde hair beneath. Still the golden eye stared at Rainbow, remembering all those years ago back at the hospital.

There's still somepony who cares.

With one final roar, the entire right half of Neon's face broke away, revealing Melony underneath. But she wasn't in full control just yet. 

Neon shook her head, growling angrily. She shakily stood up, her claw sharpening itself. She had to kill this pegasus now, or else Melony will take over. 

She charged forward at Rainbow, who was too weak to move. Even as Neon charged, she could feel Melony taking more control by the millisecond. The sight in her left eye started to fade as Melony strained against her control. Everything was a blur now, but she could still see the rainbow maned pegasus.

Neon reached out with an arm, and felt the familiar sensation of her razor claws digging through flesh, slicing through bone, and rupturing organs. A triumphant grin spread onto her half face.

Rainbow gasped in shock as blood splattered onto her cheeks.

> Chapter 14: Burning Skies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow stood there, staring at Neon in pure shock at what just happened. 

Neon's face was still grinning, and the armor had stopped retreating. The thing standing in front of Rainbow was half monster and half pony, the pony side with a pained expression on her face but none the less strong.

Neon wriggled her claws, but then noticed something different. They didn't seem to be in Rainbow.

They seemed to be in her. 

The grin instantly vanished from her face as she looked down at her own claw, ripped through Melony's ribcage and crushing the organs inside. Melony had used the last of her will to kill herself- and therefore, Neon.

Melony's one eye looked to her left, at the cleaver, its red crystal glowing brightly. Her lips twitched, mouthing the words: do it.

Rainbow wiped the blood from her face, and watched herself slowly limp towards the cleaver. She didn't even know what she was doing, nor what just happened. She didn't know that her rainbow mane had awoken the memory of her trying to stand up for Dainty inside Neon, triggering the awakening of Melony. When Dainty died, Melony's personality had already split herself into two different ponies- the one with all the anger and hatred, and the one with the peace and her normal self. The science faction merely emphasized her darker side, creating an entirely different pony- no, monster- Neon. 

Rainbow slowly picked up the cleaver, but quite fast compared to what little strength she had left in her body. She walked towards Melony, step by step.

Melony smiled encouragingly, the Neon side frozen in place as she fought against it.
"I... Have a little sister... In that building..." Melony said, using her hoof to point at a small metal structure with a sealed door on it, blood trickling down the corner of her mouth. Neon's claw was still inside her chest. "Look... After her?"

Then Rainbow remembered too. The hospital. One of the reasons that caused her to start the bounty hunters. Exactly why, other than boredom, she hated that one place so much. She remembered Melony, and Dainty; she just didn't recognize her. Because the filly she met at the hospital was a caring big sister, pleading for help. Not a killing monster.

Every step she took towards Melony made her resent the Science faction even more. They turned something beautiful into something uglier than she'd ever seen during her life in the underworld. 

A pony robbed of self.

But then again, maybe she was one too.

'Leave this- whatever the buck this is', Octavia had said. Did she see it? Was she trying to give back to Rainbow the part of her she chose to abandon? The Melony of Neon?
"I will." Rainbow said, her face devoid of emotion, contradicting her thoughts and her pounding heart.

Melony smiled. "Good. And do tell her... That I loved her. And remember all the good memories." 

"I will." Rainbow repeated, her eyes watering slightly. 

"Don't... Let her see me." Melony continued. "Sorry... But this is quite a lot to ask... Of a stranger... But please... Don't let her see me... Not like this." she gestured at her other half, Neon; still straining against her command.

"What was your name again?" Rainbow asked.

"Melony." 

"Don't worry." Rainbow kneeled down, laying a hoof on Melony's shoulder. "I'll take care of your sister. You've been a brave pony." she smiled reassuringly.

Melony chuckled weakly. "Just make it quick." 

"Bite on my arm, if you want." Rainbow said, a tear rolling down her cheek and mixing with Melony's blood. "I'm sure it'll help." 

"Thanks." Melony said, gently clamping her jaw over Rainbow's arm.

Rainbow hugged her close. "I'll look after your sister." she repeated. "And I'll let her know her sister was one of the bravest ponies I ever met." 

Melony nodded. 

"I'm sorry..." Rainbow whispered. "That I have to do this." she thrust the cleaver into Melony's chest, the blade tearing through her heart. She felt her teeth sink into her arm, but she didn't care. It was the least she could do for her now. A tear leaked from between Melony's eyelids, sliding onto Rainbow's sleeve. It was purely from the pain, Rainbow could tell, and it made her own heart ache.

The red crystal grew brighter and brighter as it encountered Neon, fighting the evil in her heart. Then everything around them glowed white. Melony still had her jaw clamped tightly onto Rainbow's arm, and Rainbow was grinding her own teeth together. 

The white glow grew, red ribbons of light emitting from the Element of Loyalty and sinking into the black armor covering Melony's left half. The armor shattered into hundreds of white pixels, and drifted away with the breeze. The white glow faded, and the red crystal went back to its normal pulsing. 

Melony's grip loosened, and Rainbow dropped the cleaver so she could catch her. Her teeth had torn through Rainbow's coat and drawn blood from her arm, but what did it matter? The cleaver clattered noisily to the ground, and Rainbow gently laid Melony down. 

Unlike Octavia, Melony didn't have a smile on her face. But the expression was still at peace, like she was simply asleep. 

Folding and pocketing the cleaver, Rainbow had already forgotten about her own injuries. She tried to carry Melony's body away, but only collapsed on the floor as her ribs let out a wave of pain. 

And then the two royal marines were there, helping her up. They asked her questions, but she didn't pay any attention. She simply told them to take the body out of sight, then stumbled over to the metal structure, pushing the door open.

Inside was a lab, filled with equipment she'd never before seen in her life; but it was furnished as well. There was a sofa, TV, table, bed- and on the bed, was that little filly. Rainbow remembered seeing her at the hospital, clutching her soft toy and lying weakly on Melony's back. Wondering why she didn't grow an inch, Rainbow quickly brushed off the blood on her face.

"Hey, kid..." she said weakly, leaning against the side of the bed.

Dainty flinched, retreating against the wall. "Who- who are you? Where is my sister? Where is Melony?" 

Rainbow froze on the spot. She didn't know how to tell the little filly.

"What's your name?" she asked instead, trying to sound gentle but her pain forcing her to sound slightly threatening.

"D-Dainty... A-And I want my sister!" Dainty cried, hugging Mr Rabbit even tighter.

"I'm sorry.. But your sister..." Rainbow was at a loss for words. "...Left." she finished. She was certain Dainty didn't know the full meaning of that.

"W-Where?" Dainty asked.

"I don't know..." Rainbow gave the honest answer with a sigh. "But she told me to take good care of you, while she's gone." 

"Oh." Dainty lowered her head, a little sad. "Ok." 

"Come on..." Rainbow kneeled down, using her coat to cover her broken rib and flinching at the sharp pain. She used all her energy to keep a straight face. Gently lifting Dainty's head up with a hoof, she said: "We'll have plenty of fun together, and you'll be safe with me. I promise." And that promise wasn't made just to her, but to her sister as well.

Dainty nodded, however uncertain. Rainbow could only try and smile reassuringly.

She slowly turned around, catching the two royal marines smiling at them. 

"What?" she asked, although her own smile was beginning to show.

"We're just happy to finally see something peaceful." Blaze said, grinning.

"We still have bodies to clean up, though." Halcyon whispered, making sure Dainty was out of ear shot.

Rainbow's vision was beginning to blend, but she didn't know why. Looking down at her chest, there was a huge dark patch there despite the black clothes. She must be losing a lot of blood. And without warning, she fell sideways, darkness already closing in around her vision.

*

Over ten years ago, Cloudsdale, Dash Residence.


Fifteen year old Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes. Something was making a lot of noise, and had woken her up.

She gently pushed the sheets aside and got out of bed, rubbing her eyes. 

"Dad? Is that you?" She mumbled, still half asleep in her minky blue pajamas as she stumbled towards her bedroom door. "Dad?" She called out, this time louder. Her eyes were still half closed. It was still dark, and a quick glance at the clock told her it was only a few minutes past midnight.

Through the door she heard talking- no, whispering- too quite and soft to hear, despite the dead silence around her.

Slowly, she turned the doorknob(with some difficulty as her body decided it was still asleep) and gently pushed the door open. Still the whispering continued.

Rainbow gently stumbled over the warm clouds, stepping into the corridor outside. She shielded her eyes from the bright silvery moonlight pouring through the windows. All was silent but for the whispering.

Her hoof stepped in something warm and liquid like on the puffy cloud floor, and looked down to see something crimson red. She traced its source, up to the open window. Had dad come home drunk again? This didn't look like wine, though...

Slowly she followed the trail and walked towards dad's bedroom. The door was open, a red smear across the white paint.

"Dad?" Rainbow called out, confused- and almost instantly the whispering from the bedroom died down.

She peered around the corner, and was shocked at what she saw. 

Dad was lying on the floor face up, another pony kneeling beside him and holding his hoof. Dad slowly tilted his head to look at her, seeming to mouth the words 'not like this...' Over and over again. 

The other pony only held his hoof, but when she looked up Rainbow caught the color of her eyes. Magenta, shimmering with tears under the streak of moonlight that splashed over them.

"What did you do?" Rainbow felt tears swarming into her eyes. That wasn't wine... That was.... "WHAT DID YOU DO!?" 

The pony gently let go of dad's hoof and stood up, a sad look in her eyes. She was dressed completely in black, her clothing shielding the color of her coat. Her mane was hidden under a hat with a white band around it. 

Rainbow charged at her, screaming and crying and ready to lash out. But then the pony dropped something on the floor with a cling, and with a loud bang the room was filled to the brim with smoke. 

Rainbow stumbled and fell, sliding to a halt next to dad's dead body. The expended smoke grenade rolled away, and all that remained behind of the escaped attacker was the hat with the white band around it.

*

Having been to virtually every hospital in Equestria, Rainbow recognized Cloudsdale city hospital straight away when she woke up. 

Her ribs felt normal, and the sheets were more comfortable than ever. All her aching bones felt soothed. But then there was still that feeling of loss in her heart. 

Octavia was right, Rainbow thought jokingly. She is a terrible friend, to put me through all that. 

She chuckled, thinking what Octavia's reaction might be and what retorts she might choose. But as she realized Octavia will never be retorting to anything she says ever again, she couldn't help but have tears swarm into her eyes and snuggle deeper under the blankets. She accidentally bumped her elbow on her ribs, and flinched. She turned away as she heard the door open and pretended she was asleep.

"She woke up- seeing as she changed her position. But I advise that you don't disturb her." a nurse said softly.

"Don't worry, we can wait." 

Rainbow froze, her heart beat slowing down. That voice...

"Yeah. Was all horrible and all, I tell ya. Poor thin' must've seen a lot more than we have." Applejack said, and Rainbow heard a gentle shuffle as she took her hat off. 

Six different sets of hooves walked around the room, sitting down. 

"Let's just hope she wakes up soon." Shining Armor said.

Rainbow couldn't help it anymore. She didn't know what to say to the rest of the mane six, and she didn't want to talk about her life after Ponyville. She faked a yawn, slowly getting up and pretending she didn't know her friends were there. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around. 

"Stop it Rainbow." Twilight said flatly. "We knew you were pretending." 

"My acting is that bad, huh?" Rainbow said grimly, sitting up. Yes, she was happy to see her friends again. But the sadness in this case outweighed the happiness.

Shining Armor was the first to break the silence. "I'll get straight to the point, Rainbow. You murdered multiple ponies, and I'm not going to give you the number because your friends will probably be too scared to be here." he said. "But Princess Celestia and I have agreed that you won't be convicted- one, because despite working for criminals, you still terminate only criminals. And two, you contributed significantly to the defeat of the Science faction. For those two reasons you will not be convicted. But don't expect to get away with it next time." 

Rainbow nodded, and the other five seemed to let out a sigh of relief. 

"And now... I know you probably don't want to do this... But property claims." Shining Armor read from a piece of parchment.

"I know what's supposed to happen." Rainbow said. "But I'll leave Octavia's stuff alone." her words were followed by silence.

"And... The little filly." Shining Armor said.

"I'll look after her." Rainbow said without hesitation. 

Shining Armor looked at her, considering it. "You'll need to sign a contract with orphan care. But that wasn't what I was about to tell you..." he hesitated. "We've identified the filly as Dainty- her family was murdered, and her sister dead, too. We found her body in the streets of Manehatten years ago. She should be dead."

Rainbow fell silent. She probably knew how Dainty died.

"We sent a squad inside the building you found her in, and they found that the machines inside seem to be some sort of revival machine."

That got Rainbow's attention. What if she could use it to revive Octavia...

"Unfortunately, a bomb went off that blew the squad to bits- only one survivor. Private Starshine is still recovering from severe mental trauma. We couldn't further research the device."

"What about the two- Blaze and Hal-something, was it? What about them?" Rainbow remembered the two royal marines that accompanied her on the mission. 

"They returned to aid Princess Celestia. They're actually the princess's best royal guards. That's why they survived the mission with you with relative ease." 

"Ah." Rainbow said. She was still disappointed that Octavia won't be coming back- but she could see a way. If Dainty was here, then it was possible. She'll find out how.

"Other than that..." Shining Armor stood up to leave. "I have nothing else to say. Take care and recover soon." he said, and left.

Maybe Shining Armor didn't say anything unofficial, but Rainbow could tell he must've been through several arguments and complaints before announcing that she won't be convicted. He cared, in his own way. That big softie.

"So... Feeling... A little better, Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked, her tiny voice barely audible. 
Rainbow nodded for the sake of it, but everypony could tell she hadn't gotten any better- at all.

"The removal of the barricade is in half an hour. I'll help you to the roof top now if you want." Twilight said.

"Well, I do need the wind." Rainbow said, her mood lifting by the slightest. So slight she couldn't even detect it herself. 

"Come on, then." Applejack gently carried Rainbow's left arm, while Twilight carried her right as she slowly got off the bed, her side aching. 

"Thanks girls." she muttered.

"Least we can do." Applejack said.

The sunshine hit Rainbow full in the face when Rarity opened the door, and if Twilight and Applejack hadn't been holding her she probably would've tumbled down the hospital stairs. 

They climbed out onto the roof top, and Pinkie Pie fired her party cannon, which Rainbow didn't even see her carry up the stairs. 

One day some crazy scientist will research Pinkie Pie and learn how to defy physics, Rainbow thought.

Confetti exploded loudly out of the cannon, and six lawn chairs appeared on the roof, with a table of drinks and sweets.

Not wasting her time and strength trying to figure out how Pinkie had fit all that in the cannon, she took a seat and sank into the chair. She quickly pulled out some sunglasses and put them on, shielding her watery eyes as she remembered watching the sunrise with Octavia. 

Wait, how the buck did I just do that? Rainbow asked herself- she didn't even bring sunglasses!

There was a bright flash, and Shining Armor teleported onto the roof, the little light green filly standing next to him, Mr Rabbit tightly grasped in a hoof. 

"Little Dainty here insisted that she be with the 'rainbow maned pony', and wouldn't let anyone at orphanage get near her. So here we are." Shining Armor sighed, Dainty slowly approaching Rainbow. There was a bright flash, and he teleported away again.

Rainbow quickly blinked away the tears, and threw her sunglasses away. Dainty seemed a little less wary, but soon she was yelping in surprise as the rest of the mane six surrounded her. 

"She's soooo cute~~~" Pinkie squealed. 

"There's a loose peice of string... Let me just snip that off... That's better. Tell me if you ever need a suit for him...." Rarity was taking it as a business opportunity, while Applejack may as well be shoving apples down Dainty's throat.

"Eh... Girls..." Twilight said. 

Rainbow face-hoofed, then yelped in pain as Dainty escaped the ponies and tackled her in her chair. The lawn chair tilted backwards, and they both rolled back onto the floor, Dainty on top with Mr Rabbit. 

"Ow." Rainbow said after a long period of shocked silence.

"You scared her." Twilight nudged Rarity.

"No, you scared her!"

"It was AJ!" 

"All of you just be quiet!" Rainbow yelled over the voices, hugging a quivering Dainty closely. "You OK?" she lowered the volume, looking at the filly, who nodded.

Rainbow mustered her strength and got up, Dainty hopping off. She pulled the chair up and sat down, Dainty settling down on her legs. She stroked Dainty's mane lovingly.

"Ooh! Oooh! The removal of the barricade is starting!" Pinkie bounced excitedly, knocking over some cups as she bumped the table.

The first beam of magic had shot up from the ground in the ruined distance, speeding up towards the sky. The dark blue beam glowed brightly in the day, and it made contact with the barricade. It was Princess Luna, signaling to all the unicorns to use their power and lift the barricade into the sun. Earlier the barricade was protected by a special shield, preventing magic from affecting it- but as Octavia crippled the system, the only things left still online were the engines.

Rarity nodded to Twilight, and they both stepped forward, their horns glowing. 

Dainty watched, fascinated while Rainbow gently patted her. 

The two unicorns sent beams of magic into the barricade, wavering and glimmering in the sunlight. 

Then there was the sight one pony does not see everyday. One by one, thousands, perhaps millions of beams of various colors and shades shot towards the sky, the barricade glowing in a rainbow sheen. 

It was always going to end in sunshine and rainbows.

Rainbow Dash smiled. It was all going to be over soon. Dainty waved a hoof in the air, trying to catch the beams.

Then, a huge pulse was sent up all the beams, traveling towards the barricade. They made contact, and Rainbow could see the barricade move an inch or so higher into the sky. Another pulse, another inch. 

As the unicorns pushed harder with their magic, the barricade began gaining momentum, at which point it was flying towards the sun. Now that the barricade was lifted higher, Rainbow could see the ends of it outside Equestria. 

The barricade exited the atmosphere of the magical land, out of harm's way. A golden beam, twice the size of the others; shot from the ground and into the sun. With a huge pulse of energy, the sun seemingly exploded as Princess Celestia summoned the largest solar flare she ever attempted, the raging inferno consuming the barricade. 

As the ponies watched the barricade burn up in the sun, the unicorns retracted their magic, beads of sweat dripping down their grinning faces. 

It was over.

> Epilogue: Better Days to Come
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was loud and thundery outside, adding more frustration to the sleepless rainbow maned pegasus. But it only made her frustrated, she could easily sleep in a thunderstorm. Other than that, she had Vinyl's song stuck in her head. She was glad Vinyl was back with her awesome songs, but she hated them too because of how good they were- they just wouldn't get out of her head after hearing them on the radio and all. But not even that was keeping her awake- it was something else.

In fact, it was the missing noises that made her somewhat restless, her heart in turmoil. For instance, she couldn't hear Octavia's soft breathing, which was oddly soothing when it was there. Octavia wasn't there on the opposing bed, but then again there wasn't an opposing bed anymore- she had bought a house here on Cloudsdale, all packed with normal and expensive furniture. Money wasn't a problem at all, but it still couldn't buy her what she lost. 

She rolled on her side, hugging the blankets in sheer loneliness; her tail sliding back and forth along the sheets. Her eyes were wide open, staring at nothing but darkness. She whimpered as she thought of Octavia again. 

There was a soft knock on her bedroom door, and she sat up to see who it was.

It was Dainty, dressed in her pajamas, Mr Rabbit in one hoof while the other rested on the door knob above her head. 

"Oh, hey Dainty." Rainbow said softly. "Couldn't sleep either, huh?" 

"I-I..." Dainty looked down, slightly embarrassed. Then lightning flashed, thunder roaring outside. Dainty yelped and jumped onto Rainbow's bed, quivering as she hid under the sheets.

Rainbow lifted the blankets aside.

"I... I'm afraid of lightning." Dainty said in a quiet voice, still shaking. "C-can I stay here for the night?" 

Rainbow smiled, patting Dainty gently on the head. "Course you can."

Dainty's expression brightened, and Rainbow gave her a gentle squeeze before settling back under the blankets. 
Hugging Mr Rabbit tightly, the little filly snuggled up against a surprised Rainbow. Dainty's chest heaved slightly with every breath she took, and soon she was asleep. 

Rainbow probably needed more comforting than the little filly did- and somehow Dainty's presence was enough to make everything warmer, physically and in Rainbow's heart. 

Closing her eyes and a gentle smile spreading across her face, Rainbow was then truly able to sleep.

Not all was bad, despite the tragedies that occurred. All she needed to do, was find a way to revive Octavia. But that will come much later... And for now, she'll wait, and listen to Octavia's advice- live life happily, and wait for the better days that are yet to come.